Four Derby organisations have won Government funding to deliver tailor-made programmes of support for local businesses.
East Midlands Chamber, Marketing Derby, the University of Derby and the Council’s Employment and Skills team will each benefit from a share of £2.3m from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Their combined programmes aim to create 600 jobs and bring significant investment to the city over the next two years.
Back in March a range of experienced support providers responded to the Council’s open call for applications to deliver bespoke projects to help businesses grow and advance. Applicants were assessed on agreed criteria, including value for money, proposed outcomes and relevant experience of successfully delivering local support previously.
The process called on stakeholders and partners including local businesses to outline the most pressing local challenges and asked for their thoughts on projects and initiatives that could address them. This identified four priority areas:
- Early years (£345k) – Programmes to enable entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses in their first years in Derby
- Sector opportunities (£1.13m) – Programmes that champion innovation in product, process or service delivery, enabling companies to develop
- Inward investment (£600k) – A marketing programme to bring new key sector companies or to support new external investment into the city
- Recruitment and skills (£300k) – Funding for supporting roles that help with recruitment and skills provision and growth and scale-up advice
Councillor Nadine Peatfield, Cabinet Member for City Centre, Regeneration, Culture and Tourism at Derby City Council, said: “Our focus is on doing everything we can to make Derby a fantastic place to live, visit and do business. These programmes will go a long way to attract investment, create jobs and help businesses to innovate and thrive, which in turn is crucial to our future economic growth.”
