Chance for small businesses seeking growth to secure investment

SMALL businesses in Yorkshire have got the chance to secure £25,000 and expert advice.

The West Yorkshire Society of Chartered Accountants (WYSCA) is holding the Small Business Growth Catalyst event at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, during Leeds Business Week and is on the lookout for local businesses that want to develop. 
 
There will be the chance for comapnies to gain advice from experts and the event will culminate in a Dragon’s Den style experience where four businesses will pitch to a panel of successful entrepreneurs. Each entrepreneur will be able to invest their expertise and up to £25,000 in return for an equity stake the business. One of the investors, instead of cash, will be offering a structured package of expert business growth mentoring.

The four investors include founder of Costcutter, Colin Graves, business advisor, Rachel Hannan and Colin Glass, who runs chartered accountants, WGN.

WYSCA president, Charles Hartwell, said:  “The key focus is to support small businesses in West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire and help them to grow.

“There will be a number of specialists at the event including finance experts, web design experts, PR people, access to funding advisors – all the people that can offer advice to help businesses grow.”

The businesses applying for investment must be based in West Yorkshire or North Yorkshire, been running for at least one year and have a turnover no higher than £1m. It must be able to clearly demonstrate how it would use the investment or expert business mentoring.

Mr Hartwell said: “The businesses applying for investment have got to have a clear idea of how they can grow.

“We would like as many small business owners as possible to come along and speak to the experts to help their business.”