Lancashire business support service gets a £6m Boost

An award-winning business support service that's helped over 5,000 Lancashire businesses has been given £6m that will enable it to continue until 2021.
Councillor Green and Andrew Leeming with businesses benefiting from Boost Business Lancashire which has got an extension for three yearsCouncillor Green and Andrew Leeming with businesses benefiting from Boost Business Lancashire which has got an extension for three years
Councillor Green and Andrew Leeming with businesses benefiting from Boost Business Lancashire which has got an extension for three years

Boost Business Lancashire, the county’s business growth hub, has been given the money to continue delivering wide-ranging support for ambitious high growth businesses and start-ups.

The European Regional Development Fund has given £3.65m of the funding with the rest coming from Lancashire County Council, as well as the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership’s Growth Deal.

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Since its launch in July 2013, Boost has helped create more than 2,200 new jobs and 600 new businesses get started. Bosses say this has added £74m of new economic activity to the Lancashire economy.

The next phase of Boost aims to support 1,450 more new businesses, creating 1,350 new jobs, as well as helping to establish a further 200 business start-ups.

Edwin Booth, chairman of LEP, said: “The LEP has always recognised that ambitious and innovative SMEs are the lifeblood of Lancashire’s thriving business community and the Boost programme continues to support them as they strive for growth.

“I would therefore encourage anyone interested in growing their business to take full advantage of the services Boost has to offer to help both their own bottom line and the whole of the Lancashire economy.”

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In addition to signposting businesses to relevant support programmes, Boost funds four support programmes:

1. The Growth Support Programme, delivered by Winning Pitch and Enterprise4All, which offers specialist masterclasses and coaching for start-ups and businesses under three years.

2. Growth Mentoring, delivered by Community & Business Partners and Orvia which provides one-to-one strategic mentoring support.

3. Boost Bespoke, from Winning Pitch, East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce and North and West Lancashire Chamber of Commerce offers bespoke support to help businesses scale up, access international markets and boost productivity.

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4. Business Relationship Management, from Growth Lancashire, offers sector-specialist account managers to engage with firms.

Andrew Leeming, Boost programme manager at Lancashire County Council, said: “It’s wonderful news.

“It’s clear from the volume of Boost success stories we’ve had, that the business community truly benefits from our support.”

County councillor Michael Green, cabinet member for economic development, environment and planning, said: "Our priority is to help Lancashire’s businesses to grow, creating new jobs for local people and growing the county’s economy.

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Boost is a key part of this strategy, by giving ambitious local businesses simple access to business support to help them realise their ambitions. If you’re determined to grow in 2019, Boost should be part of your Growth Conversation.”