BASE Catapult launches to help local business owners step back and move forward
A new fully funded peer programme is bringing local business owners together to tackle real challenges, make better decisions and move their businesses forward.
BASE Catapult, funded by East Hampshire District Council and delivered through BASE Bordon Innovation Centre, will bring together a pilot cohort of up to 10 small businesses for a structured programme starting at the end of October 2026 and running through to January 2027.
Running a business often means being pulled in multiple directions. Important decisions, opportunities and longer-term priorities can easily get pushed aside by whatever needs attention today.
BASE Catapult is designed to create the space to change that.
Rather than following a traditional training course or fixed curriculum, participants bring the real issues they are facing in their businesses into the room.
Across four facilitated peer sessions, business owners will test their thinking, hear different perspectives, learn from the experience of other owners and decide what to do next.
Bring it. Pressure-test it. Act on it.
Michael Gordeev, Business Growth Manager at BASE Bordon, said:
“Running a business means the urgent can easily crowd out the important. BASE Catapult gives owners structured time to step back, work through real business challenges with their peers and turn better decisions into action.”
Between sessions, participants will put those decisions into practice and return to the group to share progress, challenges and learning.
The programme is open to trading small businesses across Whitehill & Bordon, East Hampshire and the wider A3 corridor, broadly from Portsmouth towards Guildford.
The pilot cohort is expected to begin at the end of October, with the programme continuing through to January 2027.
Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis while places remain available.
Interested in joining BASE Catapult, or know a business that could be a good fit?
Find out more, apply, or share the programme with someone in your network: