Government Funding - Where to find it

Government Funding

The government offers an enormous range of incentives and initiatives to those looking to set up their own business. However, these schemes are so numerous and varied, and administered by so many different organizations, that the only reliable and up to date sources of information are the websites of the organizations involved. This might sound like a ruse to avoid having to provide any concrete details, but some well judged general suggestions will give you a better idea of how to go about getting extra funding than any attempt at an exhaustive list of all grants, loans, schemes and funds:

1. Check your regional or national development agency website.

These agencies tend to be at the centre of government efforts to promote businesses, and if they can’t help you directly they can probably provide a link to someone who can. It is through these agencies that the majority of EU funds are administered, so if your business is based in an area deemed to be economically backward, you could be in luck. Each RDA also sponsors a local Venture Capital fund, so if your idea has serious high growth potential then these would be worth pursuing. Click here for links to all Regional Development Agencies, or here for a list of their respective VC funds.

2. Investigate your local councils.

There are literally hundreds of small schemes offered by district and borough councils to help new and existing businesses, and many of them are quite specific. Very often, these will require that any funding offered is matched by other sources of finance, and can be for anything from buying bilingual signs to getting broadband access. The next port of call should be your county council. The range of help on offer tends not to be as specifically targeted, and as a rule more money will be available. On the other hand, of course, the competition for these grants and loans will be fiercer. Click here for a full list of councils in the UK.

3. Make the most of free services.

Obvious though it may sound, being given things for free is almost as good as just being given money. Often available from county councils is business advice and support, be it for free or at a heavily subsidized rate. Of course, free business advice can be found all over the place (and nowhere better than Venture Navigator), so how useful this is to you depends on your business, but the opportunity to get in contact with competitors in your sector is one you’d be a fool to miss.

Needless to say, these grants and loans are not necessarily easy to obtain. With any grant or loan application there will inevitably be a variety of bureaucratic hoops to jumps through, and you will face stiff competition from all the other people out there who believe that their business idea is even better than yours. So make sure your business plan is as watertight as possible, and good luck…

We have created a group of hypothetical case studies to illustrate the variety of funding on offer and the various ways one might go about getting it:
A fishery in Scotland
A retail firm in Wales
A manufacturing business in Northern Ireland