New round of grants - Warwickshire Rural Growth Network awards another £200,000

Following the success of the Micro-Enterprise grants, a £500,000 funding stream made available by Defra through its Rural Development Programme for England, Warwickshire County Council on behalf of the Local Enterprise Partnership has announced that it has approved an additional £200,000 of grant funding for small rural local enterprises.

Seven new enterprises have received funding between £6,000 and £25,000 to help them expand whilst two further companies, who have previously received grants, have been successful with other bids to enable them to continue to expand and create more jobs.

In all, it is forecast that the funding will help to create nearly 20 new jobs, and safeguarding more.  The grants are directed towards small enterprises, those with less than ten employees, primarily in the manufacturing, digital media and low carbon technology sectors which are priorities for the Coventry and Warwickshire economy.

Among the beneficiaries are  organic food and drink specialists, web designers and an aviation engineering company.

The previous round of micro-enterprise grants created around 80 jobs in the county and played a vital role in expanding small enterprises in rural areas.  This latest round of grants takes that figure near the 100 mark.

The grants are part of the Warwickshire Rural Growth Network programme for businesses looking to start and grow. If you would like to find out more, call 01926 412709.

13 small rural businesses are set to receive grant funding. These include:

• Angstrom Engineering of Alcester,
• IT specialists OCM Communications of Shipston-on-Stour,
• Manufacturer of beauty appliances and natural skin care products Sparcana of Alderminister
• Online petfood supplier Petshopbowl of Hatton Rock, near Stratford
• Digital company Greenwood and Dodsworth of North Warwickshire
• Manufacturer, Newfield Fine Homes of Southam
• Alpaca yarn manufacturers, Toft Alpacap Shop of Dunchurch
• Naturally Good Foods, a food business based in Bretford
• Lontra, an engineering company based in Napton.