Business Development Grants

As part of the Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF) programme in Birmingham funding was allocated aimed at increasing the city’s economic output and productivity, as well as mitigating against the impacts of the recession on the business community.

Business Development Grants (BDG) - Now Closed

The Stimulating Demand project provided access to grants and business advice for eligible local SME’s in Birmingham including support of £2,500 to help businesses identify new market opportunities for products or services (feasibility grant) and up to £6,000 to help businesses set up, consolidate or expand (space grant).

Underpinning this was a strand that involved a two day package of support from Business Link providing some engagement and filtering support.

The project was completed in March 2011.

An independent external evaluation was carried out by Consulting In Place.

In March 2011 it reported the following:-

“The project was built on tried and tested models of support, which contributed to its successful delivery. The project was well managed, which included regular communication with the delivery partners who were involved in all aspects of the project. The BDG project strand exceeded its targets for the number of business supported.”

“The evidence collected through a beneficiary survey allowed the Evaluation to calculate the impact of the BDG in terms of additional GVA and employment.”

The headline figures for this were:

Accounting for persistence effects, i.e. the long term impacts of the support, total additional GVA of £5.15m

For every £1 of BDG spend, immediate benefits of £2.52 were generated. For every £1 of BDG spend, £11.64 of additional benefits were generated, including persistence effects.

Almost 170 jobs were safeguarded and over 160 jobs created as a result of the support received from the BDG project

A number of other impacts of the project were evidenced through the research. These included improved business strategies, safeguarding businesses against the recession, the accelerated growth of businesses and the increased likelihood of future uptake of business support