The Udemy Business Course Collection for Small & Growing Businesses includes a tailored set of course recommendations across 15 in-demand topics such as productivity, innovation, and leadership, as well as crucial fields such as finance, sales, customer service, and cybersecurity.

Many SMBs struggle to attract and retain talent due to resource constraints, with 86% of small business owners who are hiring reporting few or no qualified applicants. In today's challenging economy, technical and professional skills are mission critical for SMBs. Based on course consumption data, such as The Top 10 Surging Tech Skills for Growing Businesses list, Udemy is offering this toolkit with recommendations on English-language courses to help growing businesses learn practical and emerging skills.

"Investing in skills development is not just about enhancing SMB productivity by enabling professionals to acquire relevant skills; it's about fostering a company culture of continuous learning and growth from the onset," said Greg Brown, President and CEO at Udemy. "We are committed to serving our SMB customers with self-guided learning resources tailored to meet their unique needs, ensuring they stay innovative in today's competitive market."

Businesses with up to 1,000 employees that were recently surveyed by Udemy are already implementing skills-based practices, such as using skills assessments for hiring and promotions; providing access to external skill-building resources; implementing cross-functional skills-sharing initiatives; incorporating skills-based competencies into performance evaluations; and facilitating skills-based mentorship programs.

The survey responses also highlight the top outcomes SMBs observed from adopting these practices, such as

• continuous learning and skills-development opportunities (42%)
• increased job satisfaction and employee engagement (31%)
• increase in overall company productivity (29%)
• enhanced opportunities for career advancement based on merit (29%)

"Curated content on the Udemy Business platform has been a game changer for us, enabling a team of over 50 members to develop and grow their capabilities as data professionals over the past two years, which is strategic to our business," said Ryan Jamieson, Chief Technology Officer at Calybre, a UK-based data consultancy firm and Udemy Business customer.

"As a growing business, staying competitive means building a culture in which employees are continuously upskilling on the latest knowledge and skills. This has not only boosted overall efficiency, but empowered our employees to take ownership of their professional growth."

To further support SMBs, Udemy hosted a webinar on 04 September titled Live Training: Four Must-Have Skills for Your Growing Business with instructors Irlon Terblanche, CEO at SioTech and management/technology consultant, and Andrii Piatakha, CEO at IT-Bulls and IT consultancy expert.

The interactive event featured power sessions on crucial skills such as communication, generative AI, leadership, and project management, surfacing actionable insights that businesses can implement immediately. Webinar attendees also got complimentary access to a course on the Udemy platform introducing appropriate AI tools that can automate workplace tasks and optimize productivity.

Udemy has also upgraded its Team Plan offering to provide small teams and businesses with 2-20 professionals access to its International Collections. New learners in 25 multilingual markets can now leverage more than 27,000 courses in 15 languages, including preparation for more than 200 certification exams, practice tests, and cutting-edge AI-powered coding exercises, transforming how organizations approach professional development.

Team Plan also provides goal-focused recommendations, detailed analytics, and adoption reports, ensuring that teams can track their progress and optimize their learning experience.

Recently crossing one billion course enrollments on its platform, Udemy is empowering businesses worldwide with opportunities to upskill and transform lives.