Small businesses across the West Midlands are being given the chance to access new ‘vouchers’ to help them grow.
The £30 million Growth Vouchers scheme, which is being launched by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), is available to businesses which are VAT registered, have been trading for over a year and have 49 employees or less.
They can apply for up to £2,000, to match their own investment, to be spent on strategic business advice to support their growth aspirations.
The advice available can cover five key areas, raising finance and managing cash flow; recruiting and developing staff; improving leadership and management skills; marketing, and making the most of digital technology.
In the first instance, businesses need to visit www.gov.uk/apply-growth-vouchers to establish the eligibility and register their interest. They will then receive a free business assessment either on-line or from an advisor.
West Midlands Chambers LLP has been chosen as the delivery partner for this region.
Louise Wall, regional co-ordinator for the scheme said: “The Growth Voucher programme has been devised to test whether firms who access strategic business advice grow quicker than those that don’t and, we will also look at the best way to deliver the advice.
“Businesses which meet the criteria just need to take a few minutes to visit the gov.uk website and apply online for their free business assessment. Following the assessment the business will be notified within a matter of days as to whether they have been selected for a Growth Voucher, which the business themselves will match.
“It is open to companies across the UK but we are delivering the project here in the West Midlands – so businesses from Staffordshire, Birmingham, Black Country, Shropshire, Hereford & Worcestershire and Coventry & Warwickshire can all apply.
“This is a very important project because not only will it help individual companies across this region to grow, it is also going to help to shape the way strategic business support will be delivered in the future.”
For more information or to apply, log onto www.gov.uk/apply-growth-vouchers