County fund nears the £60,000 mark

The BIBAs Foundation, set up by the Be Inspired Business Awards, has received £26,000 which is the profit generated by the awards in 2015 and will now go in to the fund set up to support initiatives aimed at boosting young people in the county.

The Foundation, which is run is jointly run by the BIBAs and the Community Foundation for Lancashire, offers grants of up to £2,000 available to 16-24 year olds in the county to develop skills and expand and build businesses.

Babs Murphy, chief executive of awards organisers, the North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said she hoped the fund would continue to support and inspire young people.

She said: “The BIBAs Foundation was set up with one aim in mind, to inspire, and it is already doing that with £14,000 handed out to groups across Lancashire already.

“This latest donation from the BIBAs will allow the Foundation to support even more groups and individuals and hopefully inspire the next generation of young entrepreneurs and business owners.

“We believe that the BIBAs should be about celebrating what is great about our county, not making profit, and that is why we are committed to putting the profits of our awards back in to Lancashire through the Foundation.”

Last week, the awards’ judges selected the last of their 17 winners following a second round of judging which saw them make visits to 136 different firms across 18 days of judging.

Finalists will have to wait until September 16 when the BIBAs holds its annual prize-giving ceremony at The Blackpool Tower.