Coronavirus: Further support to local businesses with GRANTfinder
Shropshire Council has accepted an offer from GRANTfinder that will give it six months’ free access to a new online funding portal that will make it easier to promote available funding streams to local businesses.
As the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on businesses in Shropshire increases, this new ability to signpost available funding will provide an important boost to local organisations.
The new portal will give the council a simple way to promote available funding.
The offer will be available in Shropshire for free until 31 October 2020.
Open4Business provides a one stop shop of all the funding and support on offer to help local companies succeed and grow: vital in a time of challenging conditions for enterprise. It is hoped many more business will be able to benefit from the information available and access new and existing funds.
You can find out more by visiting the Idox website.
Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for assets, economic growth and regeneration, said:
“Shropshire Council has been working incredibly hard to support businesses, including distributing over £56m to over 4,000 local businesses as part of the Government’s Small Business Grant Fund.
“We’re delighted to have the opportunity to promote free access to grant funding information for our local small and medium-sized businesses, particularly at a time where further support is urgently needed.
“Open4Business allows businesses to easily find business news and loans, grant and funding information. We hope this new resource, available until the 31 October 2020, will complement the wide range of business support already offered by the Marches Growth Hub.”
John McLaren, Head of Business at GRANTfinder, said:
“GRANTfinder will be supporting the recovery response to COVID-19 across the UK at a time of real need. In such a fast-moving situation the Open4Business portal is a streamlined way for councils to promote funding support to every business in their local area which is struggling.”
Each year, hundreds of millions of pounds in grants, loans, awards and other funds are on offer to help businesses improve productivity, buy equipment, employ and train staff, carry out innovative R&D, diversify into new markets and much, much more. Open4Business lets local entrepreneurs search for free through all these funds available to them, from major European Union and Government programmes, to regional development schemes, local authority funds and prestigious business award competitions.
This is a particularly worrying time for small business owners and the future may feel uncertain for many. Open4Business will be highlighting business news and information about new funding streams designed to support businesses respond to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Access to the site will allow business owners to assess whether there are opportunities they can apply for.
To sign up to the service, businesses must be willing to share some key data with idox including name, address and telephone number. Terms and conditions, and information about how your data will be used, is clearly available on the sign up page. Find out more about this offer on Shropshire Council’s website.
Business support
Businesses can access a broader range of business support through the Marches Growth Hub. The Marches Growth Hub offers a single point of access to information and guidance on business grants, loans, support and advice available to enterprises across the region, regardless of sector or size of development.
For more information about the advice and support that is available to your business, visit the Marches Growth Hub website or ring 0800 998 1098.
Keep informed and sign up to our daily coronavirus email updates
Shropshire Council wants to keep you as up to date and informed as possible. To help us do this, we have developed a coronavirus update that will be sent daily at 8pm via email to anyone who has signed up to our e-bulletins.
This update includes the day’s key Shropshire Council news, and some key news from our partners, relating to coronavirus-linked issues. Please click here to sign up for the updates.
Please do encourage your family and friends to sign up to the updates too. This will help us keep everyone up to date with the rapidly-evolving crisis.
Further Information
Find the new online resources here:
https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/coronavirus/information-for-the-public/
