The Region consisting of the County of Västmanland and the county of Örebro, needs to develop its business structure, made up of mainly a few large enterprises and over 90% of Solo- and Micro Enterprises. Small enterprises that need to develop and grow for many reasons. Many of these small enterprises work very little with the development of their businesses mainly because of lack of knowledge, time and also to a certain extent competence. Neither on a national nor an international arena. Our experience is that the professional skill in these companies is good but that the competence in business development among the entrepreneurs as well as the employees is often lacking. Unlike the large enterprises, the small enterprises do not have the same resources to hire experts within different areas of competence. In the region’s Regional Strategic Development program it is stated that entrepreneurship and a developed business are of enormous importance in order to achieve higher growth and employment. Solo- and Micro Enterprises are also of particular significance in respect of the growth of new jobs in the region. Furthermore, the growth of these companies is important in regard to being part of value chains and the business structure in terms of innovation and export playing an important role in the supply of services and attractive environments. Within this project we intend to implement skills development with the purpose of improving the opportunity of business development in the companies, strengthen the participating individuals on the labour market and to fulfil the labour markets need of labour and competence. A key word is life long learning. The overall purpose of the project is to, with competence improving contributions within business development, enhance the competitiveness of the companies and their employees and accordingly secure the employment and increase growth. The project should establish continuous business- and skills development in Solo- and Micro Enterprises where focus on the individuals’ need of development connected to ongoing structural change. Our target group is Solo- Micro Enterprises, 0 – 9 employees, and also to some extent companies with up to 20 employees. Although the project owner is Almi Företagspartner Mälardalen the activities will be implemented together with the municipalities in the region, business support actors, educational organisations and external consultants. All participating Solo- and Micro Enterprises should, according to the owners, have expressed an ambition to develop and grow. Participating entrepreneurs will take part in a situation assessment where the current status of the company is established, their future visions and how these should be achieved. Also all managers, employees and prospective employees should participate in an analysis with the purpose of identifying current competence and need of future competence. Depending on the results of the situation assessment we will perform a large number of skills improving activities and activities adapted to the company needs. A non-discriminatory perspective and equal rights will permeate the project. Issues such as gender equality, accessibility and integration will be emphasized and followed up throughout the project period. The ultimate impact will be more growing companies with permanent structural changes as well as an increasing collaboration between the actors supporting the businesses. The companies will be better prepared for changes in the business sector and also more open to equal rights. Furthermore, the aim is to prepare each individual for an increasing demand on the labour market, enabling them to use their own initiative to aspire to life long learning and development. We would also like to reduce the risk of the employee being excluded from the labour market.