IQ-Magazine-Issue-14

IQ finance
New Anglia LEP’s Growing Business Fund
offers grants from £5,000 up to £500,000 for
companies to expand and create jobs. The grant
makes up 20% of the total project spend, which
means for £5,000 grant support, you would need
to be investing at least £20,000 and create one
new job.
TOO SMALL
FOR GRANTS?
THINK AGAIN
Alan Cowie from the New Anglia growth hub
explains that no business is too small for grants
You can ask any of the ten Growth Hub
Advisers and they will all tell you that at some
point they’ve heard the words, “I didn’t think
we would be eligible for grants” from a business
owner. In fact, many small companies are just
as eligible for grant support as the larger ones.
The difference is that the larger companies often
have to be investing considerable sums of money
to obtain large grants. The other barrier is the
sheer volume of information out there; with so
many little pots of money available, it can be
hard to know which ones are appropriate for your
business. Here is a selection of the smaller grant
funds available, designed to help your business
develop and grow:
The Employer Training Incentive Pilot provides
a 25% return against cash paid for additional
training to a maximum grant of £1,000 for each
member of staff. This is open to Suffolk and
Norfolk SMEs and the programme is being run
by Suffolk Chamber of Commerce.
The Greener Business Grant is available in West
Suffolk (St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath
District Council areas) for businesses to reduce
their energy use and save money. Up to £1,000
is offered to fund capital works, such as building
insulation, lighting and heating enhancements,
or the installation of more energy efficient
equipment.
Connection Vouchers for faster broadband are
available in Ipswich, Suffolk Coastal, Babergh
and Mid Suffolk, which covers up to £3,000 of
the installation costs. Over 100 applications have
been approved since April and just over half of
the money has been spent, so there isn’t much
time if you want to snap up this offer.
The Manufacturing Advisory Service offers grants
of up to £3,000 towards projects which involve
reaching new supply chains, improving processes,
developing new ideas or increasing capacity. MAS
additionally provide two programmes of support
called ‘Grow: Offshore Wind’, which helps
businesses exploit opportunities in the offshore
wind market; and ‘Fit 4 Nuclear’, which provides
funding to help businesses meet strict industry
standards to compete for work in the nuclear
industry and its supply chain.
More Information
There may be grants or heavily subsidised support to help your business grow and the
landscape is constantly shifting. To find out more call 0300 333 6536 or email
growthhub@newanglia.co.uk