Funding for New Business and Start ups
Partnership Investment Finance (PIF) is the £37m ‘gap’ fund established to enable small and medium-sized businesses and social enterprises in the Objective 2 areas of Yorkshire and The Humber to access financial support by way of equity investment or loan finance when they cannot secure what they need to expand their businesses through mainstream traditional sources. PIF can offer loans from £3,000 up to equity investments of more than £1.5m. Contact Julia Chapman, Aftercare Co-ordinator, Partnership Investment Fund Limited, Tel: 01924 268 706.
Small to Medium businesses can access funding towards business training and development for owners, directors and managers, designed to meet specific requirements and provide expert mentors, tutors or trainers. Funding could provide up to 70% of the cost, which must be completed by the end of December 2007 and is for 30 companies – first come first served! Your organisation must be a commercial ‘Business 2 Business’ company with less than 250 staff and a turnover less than £30m/£40m. You must also be located in an Objective 2 area, which broadly includes: Leeds, Bradford, Kirklees, Wakefield, Keighly, Skipton, Craven, Richmondshire, Hull, Grimsby and Cleethorpes, Bridlington, and Scarborough across to Northallerton. Please contact Chris Gatman here or call 07803 212 374.
Dragon’s Den in Yorkshire is much friendlier and has been around for over ten years. The Yorkshire Association of Business Angels (YABA) has around 130 private investor members. These are people with money and a successful track record in business who could help you to achieve the same. If you are looking for finance from £10,000 to £250,000 to start or grow a business and would like the additional benefit of the expertise, skills and contacts that they can offer then please call Barbara or Charlotte on 01423 810149 for a chat.
The Business Enterprise Fund is a Community Development Finance Initiative (CDFI) which helps businesses to set up and grow by providing them with regular and continuous high quality support and assisting them in accessing finance. They provide loans for business use and will assist any company that has a gap requirement for funding, including start ups and young businesses. They operate in the Leeds, Bradford and North Yorkshire areas. For more information contact Meg Heath on 01274 777969 or by email here.
Park Lane College Leeds has secured funding from the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund to build the business incubator - TheUnit. If you are thinking of starting up your own business, have a business idea or need help developing your business plan contact Shana Hamilton.
Yorkshire Forward and the Regional Economic Strategy
A key role of Yorkshire Forward is to produce and ensure delivery of the Regional Economic Strategy (RES), which drives the economic regeneration of the region, addresses critical business issues and improves our towns and cities. Following consultation, the revised Strategy for 2006-2015 was launched. Further details are available here. A hard copy can be obtained by calling 0113 3949796.
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