East Midlands Create Growth Programme
Applications have opened for the next cohort of a £1.2 million support programme for East Midlands creative businesses.
It comes as 23 East Midlands businesses completed the first cohort of the regional business growth accelerator. Participants ranged from marketing and design agencies to architects, theatre companies to video producers.
Businesses attended a full-day business bootcamp, which included opportunities to network, and logged on to eight virtual masterclasses covering themes including leadership, marketing, sales, finance and business planning. As well as the 90-minute masterclasses delivered by industry experts, all participants were also assigned a mentor offering five hours of free support.
To be eligible for Cohort 2 of the East Midlands Create Growth programme, businesses must:
- Have turnover growth of 10% year-on-year over approximately 3 years (including either prior to or during the Pandemic)
- Employ a minimum of 2 people over the last two years (full-time, part-time or freelance)
- Have created a revenue generating product, launched a new platform or service, or reached a market of scale
- Generated sales revenue in the last 2 years.
- Be trading or registered within Leicester, Leicestershire, Derby, Derbyshire, Greater Lincolnshire, or Rutland.
East Midlands Create Growth Programme Online Application
Invest to Grow: Funding for East Midlands Businesses
To date Invest to Grow has supported over 300 SMEs, awarded funding of over £30m and helped create and safeguard over 2,500 jobs across the East Midlands.
Invest to Grow supports projects focusing on capital expenditure predominantly through a loan scheme but does have some capacity for grant funding. Project expenditure must be no less than £50k (excluding VAT) and the investment must lead to the creation of new jobs or, in certain circumstances, job safeguarding. Businesses will be expected to match fund a minimum of 70%-80% of the project expenditure.
Register your interest in Invest to Grow.
Other Business Support
Support for new and existing businesses in Erewash is also provided by Erewash Partnership Ltd. Existing businesses and start-ups could additionally benefit from financial assistance and mentoring offered by the D2N2 Growth Hub.