Coronavirus business round-up: Latest news across the North West

Two pioneering new products have been unveiled to help reduce infection within the workplace, allowing businesses to re-open safely in uncertain times.

InfectProtect’s products SteriSecure and SteriCrowd are both high-end hand sanitisation solutions which have been designed with the workplace in mind.

SteriSecure is a wall-mounted unit which is incorporated into door access control systems, ensuring only people who have fully sanitised gain entry to an area, thus vastly reducing the risk of infection within the whole building.

Or for larger areas, SteriCrowd is a standalone solution capable of delivering a precise application of hand sanitiser to both hands, at a rate of 30 people per minute, while only needing to be refilled every 25,000 uses.

These patent pending solutions have been specifically designed to help prevent the spread of disease and infections and has already decrease staff sicknesses rates over a year by 80%, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Manchester based co-founder, Michael Howe, said: “As the Government starts to look at moving towards re-opening our country, it’s vital that businesses put in place systems like SteriCrowd and SteriSecure to make sure their workplace is a safe environment for their staff and customers.”

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Two North West finance providers are now able to offer Government-backed funding to help firms emerge from the coronavirus lockdown.

Johnson Reed has been accepted and approved by Accredited Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) Lenders as an accredited lending partner, allowing businesses and suppliers the opportunity to apply for vital business finance.

As an approved intermediary, the Stockport-based business finance specialist can make applications for companies that have been trading for a minimum of three years, applying for loans between £50,000 and £250,000 with a guaranteed APR of below nine per cent and no repayments due for the first 12 months.

To be eligible, businesses must be UK-based with a turnover of less than £45m, of which more than 50% must come from trading activity, rather than investments.

Managing director Mark Johnson said: “For 20 years Johnson Reed have been funding small businesses. Never has it been more important than now to support our clients with cash-flow.

“We’re working tirelessly to support all our clients and increase facilities with our lending panel, ensuring a simple and fast process.”

Wythenshawe-based peer-to-peer lender Assetz Capital, has also been approved for accreditation as a CBILS lender, by the British Business Bank.

Stuart Law, Assetz Capital chief executive, said: “We are delighted with this accreditation by the British Business Bank and it will help us to carry some of the weight of supporting this country’s great small businesses and house builders in this very difficult time.

“We are passionate about supporting SMEs and since we founded the company back in 2013, we have been working diligently to help fill the funding gap to those companies.”

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As Stockport’s business community prepares for recovery post-coronavirus, a group of business leaders from the town have collaborated with Stockport Council to launch a new website – www.skbusinessrecovery.co.uk – to support businesses through the phases of recovery.

When the Government announced its lockdown measures in mid-March, Stockport Council convened the Stockport Economic Resilience Group to support businesses and the local economy in response to the impact of coronavirus.

The SER group, which meets online throughout each week, is a partnership of private and public sector representatives, collaborating to coordinate a swift and effective response to the economic impacts that the crisis has brought to the borough’s business community.

The new website provides a portal to a wealth of information and support tools to help businesses quickly navigate their way through the complexities brought about as a result of the coronavirus.

Cllr Elise Wilson

It has been designed to help businesses and the economy recover from the considerable impact of COVID-19, including a forum where users can seek advice, share experiences and discuss ideas.

The ‘SK Recovery’ website is also a platform to showcase innovation, where businesses have been inspired to revise their business models, to look for opportunities, to trial new ideas and to launch new products.

Cllr Elise Wilson, leader of Stockport Council, said: “In a short space of time the coronavirus has dramatically affected the way we live our lives.

“To help out, we’ve joined forces with businesses in Stockport to create a website for our business community. The SK recovery website will provide advice from experienced and well-respected business leaders and contain forums where businesses can support each other.”

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A marketing specialist from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is offering an online health check for businesses during the coronavirus lockdown.

UCLan’s Digitalplus project, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, is offering support at no cost for business owners in Lancashire to ensure that they are attracting as many online customers as possible.

Madeleine Melling, from Digitalplus, says that many small business owners who tend to be too busy to update their website during normal working periods can make the most of the free time during the lockdown to revisit their online shopfront.

She said: “With many shops closed and people staying at home, businesses which have neglected to invest in their website are all but invisible in a world that relies on finding services online.

Madeleine Melling

“Now, more than ever before, those businesses with a strong web strategy are continuing to trade online and will be the first to benefit from new customers when the lockdown lifts.

“Lancashire businesses don’t need to be left behind. A good modern website is like having a sales manager working 24/7 across the globe and can keep you ahead of the game.”

Digitalplus carries out free and impartial website performance reviews, looking at how your website is performing with visitors, whether it is being promoted properly on search engines like Google, and how it can be improved to increase sales.

The project can also offer advice in improving website content, social media skills and using new technology such as virtual reality to improve the service to clients and customers.

The support is available and free to any Lancashire businesses with fewer than 250 employees trading business-to-business with an annual turnover not exceeding £43m or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding £37m.