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NBSL have been able to secure further investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to the value of £1.6m to support 730 businesses.
The North East Business Support fund has been extended until March 2023.
The programme will offer Grants for Business Improvement Projects that use External Expertise and the financial support will remain the same:
County Durham businesses:
Northumberland or Tyne & Wear
Business Improvement Projects eligible for a Grant
Listed below are the main types of project that we can fund – if anyone has a project in mind that’s not on the list ask them to get in touch and we’ll try to help:
- Business growth planning, business expansion planning & strategy development
- Change management, Quality Management Systems and Process Improvement
- Financial Restructuring and Succession planning
- HR Strategy planning and development
- Product development/diversification and new market development
- Marketing planning & strategic marketing plans
- Design costs for marketing
- Development of animations/video production
- Web design/development
Main Eligibility Criteria
The business must be an SME with:
- fewer than 250 full time equivalent employees
- an Annual Turnover not exceeding € 50 Million and Balance Sheet value not exceeding €43 Million
- credible plans to grow / recover from the impact of Covid (staff or turnover)
If the business is involved in any kind of group structure – either being partially of fully owned by another businesses or having partial or full ownership of another business – NBSL would need details to establish eligibility.
It may be worth noting that as this is an extension to the North East Business Support Fund, we are unable to provide funding to businesses who have already accessed support from the programme – this includes:
- Businesses who have received a full Grant from the North East Business Support Fund between February 2018 to December 2020
- Businesses in Northumberland or Tyne and Wear who have received a Covid Response (SME restart and Recovery / Kick-starting Tourism) Grant. County Durham businesses are not impacted by this restriction
For information on funding, visit our dedicated business support page.