Member Article

£2.4 million funding available to Tees Valley businesses

A £2.4 million pot has opened for Tees Valley SMEs to access in grants of between £25k to £1 million.

Tees Valley Business Compass has now opened the Business Growth Investment Scheme which will provide grant support on the basis that recipients create new permanent jobs.

Businesses across the five Tees Valley local authority areas, Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees, are eligible to apply.

Stephen Catchpole, managing director of Tees Valley Unlimited, said: “The Business Growth Investment Scheme will help a wide range of businesses, offering significant assistance to companies and enterprises that are keen to grow in the Tees Valley.

“The scheme provides long-term growth capital which can help businesses to unlock their full potential and expand the size and scope of their activities.

“The scheme is designed to encourage and enable growing enterprises in key sectors such as engineering, advanced manufacturing, digital and creative industries, chemicals and process technology to invest sooner than they had planned, or it may allow them to commit to a larger project than they may have been able to, without the funding. We’d encourage businesses to get in touch to find out more.”

The funding was secured from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund through Lancaster University, who are leading the creation of 15 new growth hubs across the UK.

The funds support eligible projects and programmes that are also raising private sector investment to create economic growth and sustainable employment.

Dr Ellie Hamilton, director of the Wave 2 Growth Hub Programme, added: “Lancaster University has a strong reputation in supporting business and Local Enterprise Partnerships in producing demonstrable economic growth. We are drawing on this expertise to support the Tees Valley Business Compass and share the best practices of the growth hub in our programme to create a network of business support that will be beneficial to small and medium sized enterprises across the UK.”

The Business Growth Investment Scheme will be administered by BE Group who have already awarded £30 million of grants from the Regional Growth Fund through the Lets Grow grant scheme.

Simon Allen, BE Group senior project manager said: “This new scheme will perfectly complement the Lets Grow programme because it will enable small and medium-sized businesses to obtain support for smaller expansion projects. I expect demand for the scheme to be very high.”

For further information and to find out if your business is eligible please visit www.teesvalleyunlimited.gov.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .