St Helens firms receive £128k to boost growth

Grant funding, available through St Helens Chamber, is providing a real boost for growing St Helens businesses.

To date, 46 local firms have benefited from a Business Growth Grant, between them being awarded £128,000 in funding and creating 95 jobs within St Helens.

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the Business Growth Grant is available to SMEs based in, or moving to St Helens or Halton and operating in a business-to-business environment.

It can provide up to 35% grant funding towards the cost of consultancy covering a wide range of projects.

The chamber can consider any type of project, but typically it has supported with accreditations, marketing, websites, legal and IT projects.

Express It (UK) accessed the chamber’s Business Growth Grant to part-fund its ISO 9001 quality standard accreditation.

Jason Hall, of Express It (UK), said: “The whole process is very straightforward. The procurement process was particularly good and enabled us to fully explore the market before choosing our consultant.

“St Helens Chamber has been fundamental for us, especially over the last six months.”

Pyramid Distribution has also used the Business Growth Grant to part-fund a new website and marketing campaign which has resulted in soaring sales figures for the St Helens computer refurbishing company.

Pyramid Distribution

Managing director James Cook said: “Applying for the grant was good, I didn’t know anything about it until I spoke to the chamber.

“Dealing with the chamber’s adviser gave me that push in the right direction to make the investment. The adviser supported me with the paperwork, and it was great that we could roll the project out to fit in with our busy schedule.”