More private firms sign up to back Boost

A further 21 private and public sector organisations have signed up to give their backing to Boost Business Lancashire – the county’s £7.2m business growth hub.

Boost has now recruited a total of 33 firms to act as champions of the service and to refer their ambitious clients and members to Boost’s range of free and part-funded business support programmes.

Accountancy, legal, financial services, marketing and education providers, as well as business support organisations, are among the latest contingent to have joined Boost & Co, as the partnership is known.

They are Blue Wren, Champion Accountants, Chorley Council, Downtown Lancashire, Desired Fabrications, Enterprise Ventures, Farleys solicitors, Forbes solicitors, Freshfield, Lancashire Business Angels, Galen Partners, Marketing Lancashire, Napthens solicitors, PM+M, Preston’s College, Propel, Tigerfish PR, The Melia Partnership, Vincents solicitors, Yorkshire Bank, and 1 Business Events.

Andrew Leeming, senior projects officer for Lancashire County Council, said: “We launched Boost & Co to better engage with the wider business support community in Lancashire and to encourage our members to communicate the Boost message to their own clients, customers and partners.

“It has been a tremendous success in terms of increasing the number of growing Lancashire businesses being referred to receive support from our Boost programmes.”

Boost aims to grow the county’s economy by £20m, create at least 1,200 new jobs and safeguard 700 more by 2015.

It is being delivered through a partnership between Lancashire County Council, Community & Business Partners, Lancaster University, Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and Winning Pitch. £3.6m has been provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Boost offers a range of services, most of them free and some part-funded, including:

• Growth Mentoring by Community & Business Partners; providing high-growth mentoring support through successful business leaders who have already worked through similar challenges.
• Lancashire Forum; an exclusive leadership peer-to-peer networking and development programme run by Lancaster University.
• Lancashire LEAP; led by Winning Pitch and Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, providing advice to pre-start and early start (1-3 year-old) businesses.
• UCLan’s Innovation Clinic; aimed at supporting advanced manufacturing and engineering companies to develop new products and move into new markets.
• Growth Sectors Support; specialist in-depth, independent, practical support to help businesses in the creative and digital, environmental, advanced manufacturing, aerospace and finance sectors; to accelerate business growth.
• Growth Skills Assist; providing free training to equip leadership teams with the skills required to achieve their growth goals.
• GrowthAccelerator; delivered in Lancashire by Winning Pitch; the national programme of coaching and advice for high-growth businesses.
• Access to Finance; helping business owners to identify and access the right type of funding to deliver their growth aspirations.
• Growth Grants; non-repayable grants of between £5,000 and £1m to help businesses grow, delivered by Regenerate Pennine Lancashire.

Businesses can sign up to the programme through the website www.boostbusinesslancashire.co.uk or call 0800 488 0057.

ENDS.

For further information, contact:

Andrew Taylor, Emma Rawlinson or Simon Turner, Freshfield

01772 888400 / [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]

Stephen Axon, communications service, Lancashire County Council

01772 533 194 / [email protected]   

Notes to editors:

Boost Business Lancashire (Boost) is the £7.2million Lancashire Business Growth Hub led by the Lancashire LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership). The aim of Boost is to grow the county’s economy by £20m and create at least 1,200 new jobs and safeguard 700 more by 2015.

The role of Boost is to help growth-hungry Lancashire businesses realise their potential by providing simple access to a range of leading-edge funded programmes, delivered by specialists with a track record of growing established and innovative start-up businesses.

The service is being delivered via a partnership between Lancashire County Council, Community Business Partners, Lancaster University, Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, UCLan and Winning Pitch, with £3.6million of funding provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Boost also helps businesses access specialist private sector business support, as well as other nationally funded programmes, where relevant.

The Boost project is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.gov.uk/browse/business/funding-debt/european-regional-development-funding