Lancashire's business growth hub unveils service providers

Boost Business Lancashire, the county’s business growth hub, has named three of the providers that will deliver support to the county’s growth-hungry businesses as the second phase of the award-winning service gets underway.

£7.8m of funding was announced earlier this year to enable the Boost programme, which has already created over 1,200 new jobs in the county and helped generate an additional £50m of economic activity, to run until 2018.

Further growth services and providers will be announced in the coming weeks.

• Growth Support, provided by Winning Pitch and Enterprise4all: Practical advice, support and coaching for owners of high-growth start-ups and early-start businesses
• Growth Mentoring, provided by Community & Business Partners and Orvia: Support for SME business owners from experienced mentors in areas such as business planning, finance, sales, marketing and HR
• Innovation Clinic, provided by UCLan: Support in areas like product design, engineering, testing and prototype development to enable business owners to grow through innovation and new products and services

Jennifer Mein, leader of Lancashire County Council, said: "The first phase of Boost helped to create around 1,200 jobs and new economic activity valued in excess of £50m. It’s been one of the most successful and engaging business support services we’ve ever had in Lancashire.

"Our message to business is simple - there is a lot of help out there. People should talk to Boost and see what advice and support could help their business to grow."

“Boost will also continue to offer resources and guidance designed to stimulate growth, nurture enterprise and encourage local businesses to scale-up which will help make a real difference to the bottom line for Lancashire companies and the county’s wider economy.”

The service aims to support a further 3,360 businesses in the county, creating 2,000 jobs and helping to establish 200 new businesses.