Lancashire businesses to benefit from £400m Northern Powerhouse fund

The £400m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund has been welcomed as a new source of regional economic development funding to boost the local economy.

More than 120 delegates gathered at an event at Brockholes to hear about the new funding opportunities available and how these can be accessed.

NPIF has been set up by the British Business Bank in conjunction with the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership and nine other LEPs across the North West, Yorkshire & Humber and Tees Valley.

Financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the UK government, NPIF aims to provide small and medium businesses with increased flexibility in the types of funding available. The Fund was officially launched in February by Andrew Percy, Northern Powerhouse Minster.

NPIF provides funding to fund managers who offer Microfinance (£25,000 - £100,000), Business Loans (£100,000 - £750,000) and Equity Finance (up to £2m) to boost investment levels in the North of England. It will work alongside the LEPs and Growth Hubs, as well as local accountants, fund managers and banks, to provide a mix of debt and equity capital to SMEs at all stages in their development.

Speakers at the event included Ken Cooper, managing director of Venture Capital Solutions at British Business Bank, Mike Damms, CEO of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce and representatives from Business Finance Solutions, Enterprise Ventures and Maven Capital Partners, the fund managers responsible for the local area.

Ken Cooper said: “This fund is a result of a unique and important partnership between the British Business Bank and the 10 Local Enterprise Partnerships across the northern powerhouse regions. We are incredibly excited about the opportunity this fund represents for those small and medium sized businesses in Lancashire that with the right support, could transform the Northern economy. It is important that we now collaborate with our partners to put this money to work and get in front of those businesses that have a real appetite for growth.”

Edwin Booth, chair of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, said: “As an official partner and enthusiastic supporter of the Northern Powerhouse initiative, the LEP warmly welcomes the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and I would encourage all Lancashire businesses to see how it could directly benefit them.

"Stimulating accelerated business activity within the county’s thousands of SMEs, micro-businesses and start-ups is a key part of Lancashire's continued economic renaissance, and NPIF has the potential to really drive growth and unlock commercial potential.

"It also fits very well with our Boost business support programme, which has already successfully helped over 3,000 companies in Lancashire and generated 1,200 new jobs, and it will complement many other economic initiatives that the LEP currently manages and promotes.” The project is supported financially by the European Union. Attracting investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.