BH provided update.
Growing Business Fund (GBF) - a further eight jobs confirmed in GBF, giving a total of 2127 jobs.
Paid out £145k in April - had carried forward grants and those approved today have paid out or
committed £1.94million in current financial year, therefore two-thirds of the allocation. LEP fully aware of
the pressure again this year and may consider a further allocation of funds later this year.
Small Grant Scheme (SGS) - programme total thus far is now 221 payments, giving a grant value of just
over £2million, so we are now four months ahead of target profile
Another twelve jobs have been created, so now standing at 97 jobs (jobs not a requirement) and closing
in on the 100
th
new job. We have also fully achieved the target for new products and services for the
whole six-year period of the programme.
Promotion of grants - going forward will be pro-actively approaching and engaging with those
businesses identified as having potential to grow which hopefully in turn will impact on the number of GBF
applications coming forward.
Updates on approved grants - BH provided updates on the following grants:
FreshAsia - BH and team are in regular contact with FreshAsia and BH will provide an up-date at the
next meeting.
Stephen Walters Limited - JM has spoken with Richard Glinn, Growth Hub Adviser, who has engaged
with the client and as of yesterday, Tuesday, 30 April 20219, a proposal received.
Action: JM/JW/BH to have discussion to see if the proposal from Stephen Walters Limited is
acceptable and will report back at the next meeting.
Nwes - JM reported that there was nothing further to report on Nwes. Regular meetings with Nwes are
being held.
AC and HJ provided update.
Presently there are six cases in the pipeline at various stages, however it is likely that only three will go to
the June meeting. General discussion took place on pipeline and application submission.
JW reported that there were five Expressions of Interest.
JW provided update.
High Growth Programme - Two successful events have taken place (Manufacturing and Digital
Technology), with a further event scheduled for Tuesday, 07 May 2019, at Dunston Hall, focussing on the
Financial sector.
Growth Hub website - improvement is ongoing
Promotional material - will be going out to tender shortly for a range of printed material and display
equipment covering the whole of the Business Growth Programme.
A press release is being prepared
Small Grant Scheme Bulletin - a weekly internal newsletter is produced by Alan Herbert, Due Diligence
Officer, highlighting issues arising from due diligence or queries raised by Growth Hub Advisers. Going
forward to include Growing Business Fund and Agri-Tech issues/queries.