Successful year for Enterprising Barnsley

BUSINESS support scheme Enterprising Barnsley is celebrating a year which has seen it help create 161 jobs.

The achievement means the organisation is already more than a third of the way towards its target of creating 450 jobs over three years.

April marked the start of the second phase of Enterprise Barnsley with funding secured until September 2015.

Coun Linda Burgess, cabinet member for economic development at Barnsley Council, said: “We’re very pleased to see the creation of 161 much-needed jobs in the borough, in what has been a tough year for business.

“It’s a great start for the second phase of the Enterprising Barnsley programme and shows that even in a recession it’s possible for businesses to survive and in some cases thrive, especially if they are given support.”

Enterprising Barnsley’s first phase ran from 2009 to the start of this year and saw the creation of 630 new jobs.

Companies supported by Enterprising Barnsley this year include Manvers Engineering, Osborne Technologies and Kustom Sport.

Manvers Engineering managing director Colin Ibbotson said: “Enterprising Barnsley’s support has been phenomenal, particularly in helping us connect to other local companies and also in the re-brand of the business.

“We are now developing new products and expanding our business. These are exciting times and all along we are being helped by Enterprising Barnsley. So we do feel positive about the future.”