13/04/2011
A significant chunk of the Regional Growth Fund is being invested into growing businesses to safeguard and create jobs, reports themanufacturer.com.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that an initial £450m is being split across 50 bidders in a effort to boost growth in national SMEs. The government hopes that the money will be matched by more than £2.5bn of private sector investment.
Companies can submit a bid for cash in the second round of investment which closes at 12pm on 1 July. Almost £1bn will be shared across various industries to instigate growth and investment.
A further tool to utilise when instigating growth is sales finance. This can free up cash left in unpaid invoices, enabling businesses to explore new avenues.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told hrzone.co.uk: "This money will now help create and safeguard jobs in some of the communities worst hit by the economic downturn. Today is a step towards rebalancing our economy from an unhealthy over-reliance on a small number of industries and a few areas."
Lord Heseltine, chairman of the Independent Advisory Panel, claims that SMEs are the 'the lifeblood of our economy', telling themanufacturer.com: "I have always believed in the need to give real support to small businesses for whom bidding for £1m is way beyond what they could normally expect."
Ashley Curtis