The New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership will be helping to support at least 1,000 businesses, and create 200 business start-ups and 200 new jobs, after securing £3.9 million of Regional Growth Funding as part of the Ipswich and Norwich City Deals. The deal will also lever in at least a further £8 million of public and private sector funding.
Funding will be used to create a Growth Hub for Greater Ipswich and Greater Norwich, which will provide Norfolk and Suffolk businesses with a ‘no wrong door’ route for accessing business support.
Through the Growth Hubs, businesses will have greater and simpler access to national and local business support, as well as access to several new business support programmes, including: –
Early Stage Grant Scheme – Providing grants between £5k-£50k for businesses in first year of trading, to help them grow and employ people.
Innovation Readiness Programme – Two dedicated coordinators to help businesses apply to innovation programmes and draw down higher levels of funding to support their growth.
Innovation Vouchers – Allowing companies to purchase expertise at reduced cost from regional universities to access specialist facilities, mentoring, internships and consultancy or a combination of the above
Business Start-up Programme – Expanding support for business start-up through dedicated support, to increase the number of new businesses.
Growth Hub coordinators will be able to provide a first point of contact for any business, providing a diagnostic service and accurate, up-to-date information on support schemes to unlock both local and national support and funding.
Suffolk Chamber of Commerce will be responsible for the management of the Growth Hub, working in conjunction with Norfolk Chamber and with other elements being provided by enterprise agencies NWES, MENTA, Finance East, University of East Anglia, University Campus Suffolk and Norwich University for the Arts.
Caroline Williams, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:
“It’s great that the Chambers have the opportunity to ‘front up’ the Growth Hubs across Norfolk and Suffolk and we will be looking to make sure that the Norfolk business community is aware of all the opportunities available to help them to grow their businesses and create jobs.”
Andy Wood, Chairman of the New Anglia LEP, said:
“We know that business support is complex and often businesses aren’t able to find the help and support they require.
“Our aim is to break down the barriers caused by this uncertainty and guide businesses to help and support to enable them grow to their full potential.”
Brenda Arthur, Leader of Norwich City Council, said:
“I’m delighted that we’ve secured funding for the business support element of our City Deal, which is a huge boost for the Greater Norwich economy.
“It will allow us to improve help available to local businesses for innovation and enterprise, which will in turn generate sustainable growth in quality local job opportunities.”
George Nobbs, Leader of Norfolk County Council, said:
“This is the news we’ve been waiting for for a long time. It will unlock even more business potential within our region.
“I can’t exaggerate how important this news is, not just for Norwich but for the whole of Norfolk and Suffolk. I want to thank all the people who’ve been working so hard for so long to achieve this fantastic outcome for us all.
“Any support to help boost business growth can only be a good thing and it appears that the Growth Hubs will allow the creation and development of business growth opportunities using practical and tangible means.”
Peter Funnell, President of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, said:
“The main barrier to SMEs taking up business advice and support is that the business community often finds the current landscape complex, opaque and difficult to engage with.
“The Chamber and our partners including NWES, Menta, Enterprise Hub, FSB and IoD, will introduce a ‘no wrong door’ service that will improve access and at the same time broaden the range of services on offer.
“This is the grass rooted support that businesses in Suffolk need and we are delighted to be leading such an exciting initiative working with our key partners”
Chris Soule, Policy Lead at the East Anglia Federation of Small Businesses, said:
“The programme will bring real and tangible support to our members and will transform this region.
“The growth fund is for people like our members, it is about government putting its trust in Small and Medium businesses to deliver where others have failed.”
Allocation of The Regional Growth Funding will be through Lancaster University. As well as helping to decide which cities’ proposals received funding, Lancaster University academics will also be providing on-going support and evaluation of the cities.
Lancaster, which was named as a top-ten university for SME engagement by the recent review by Sir Andrew Witty, was brought in because of its experience and expertise in working with business, local authorities, as well as Local Enterprise Partnerships and growth hubs.
Lancaster has worked with more than 5,000 SMEs since 1999. It has also helped the creation of more than 250 new business and more than 4,000 new jobs.
Following today’s announcement (Friday) the LEP will work with partners to finalise contract terms with the Government, with the Growth Hubs expected to begin operating in the spring of 2014.
