Published: November 15th, 2017
Businesses in the Marches have secured more than £95,000 in grant funding since April this year.
The Marches Growth Hub and its partners have also supported more than 4,314 businesses in the sixth month period to September this year, as its Get Growing campaign to support businesses looking to scale-up operations gains pace.
Figures from the hub also revealed that more than 2,700 people had attended Marches Growth Hub business support events and that 18 EU funded business support programmes, including grant schemes, were being delivered in the region.
Paul Hinkins, Chairman of the Marches Growth Hub, said the Get Growing campaign has been designed to support the Government’s new Scale Up plan for businesses with high growth potential.
"Earlier this year, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), launched the Scale-Up Taskforce as part of the government’s wider Industrial Strategy.
"With a view to increasing the number of businesses expanding their operations, this taskforce is focused on helping high-growth businesses reach their full potential both here and overseas. It is additionally looking at what the key barriers to growth are that small businesses experience.
"A ‘scale-up’ enterprise is one experiencing significant growth in both employee numbers and turnover – and we know there are plenty of these across the Marches. The Get Growing campaign is how the Marches Growth Hub is ensuring that the region’s smaller businesses with significant growth potential are given the means to access both the finance and support needed to achieve great things.
Companies which have received support from both the virtual hub, and the three hub sites in Telford, Shrewsbury and Hereford, feature as part of the Get Growing campaign.
They include Telford manufacturer Bond Retail Services Group, which secured funding to increase production which supported the creation of four new jobs. The company, which serves the UK and Europe, employs 200 people and makes refrigeration cabinets for major supermarkets including Asda, Iceland and Waitrose.
Director Harish Chander said: "Support from the Marches Growth Hub saw us not only access £24,000 of funding to extend our manufacturing offer, we were also signposted to specialist help to create an app to track equipment out on hire."
Shrewsbury company Rent a Space said the hub’s support to open a new £3m multi-use site in Battlefield has been invaluable.
Sales director Leah Whitley said: "The wealth of knowledge available through the Marches Growth Hub allowed me to access targeted and appropriate guidance at all stages of the project.
Herefordshire IT business PC Logix secured £11,200 to invest in ways of bringing its services to wider customer base after approaching the Marches Growth Hub about funding options.
Director Muriel Cope said: "We have been very impressed with how straightforward and painless the whole application process has been. As a result of the support, we’ve created two new jobs."
The Get Growing campaign is also promoting the new Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF). MEIF is a £250m fund, a joint agreement between the British Business Bank and eleven Local Enterprise Partnerships including the Marches LEP, which aims to support the growth ambitions of 460,000 smaller businesses in the Midlands.
"We would urge businesses to keep up to date with the campaign at www.marchesgrowthhub.co.ukand to sign up for our newsletter so they are the first to know when new business support programmes and events are launched."
All the events will be listed on www.marchesgrowthhub.co.ukor for more information about what’s on offer, contact the hub on 0345 6000 727 or by email at [email protected]
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