East Midlands Development Agency (emda) has helped to secure
European funding to add to its multi-million pound Grant for
Business Investment (GBI) programme, which supports businesses in
the region that are aiming to grow.
The Grant for Business Investment (GBI) scheme provides funds
for businesses to support sustainable investment. The aim of the
scheme is to help businesses expand, rationalise, modernise or
diversify, by granting funding for capital assets such as land,
buildings, plant and machinery.
The GBI (previously known as SFIE) scheme has assisted 251
businesses since 2002, creating 7,300 jobs. Each grant represents
between 10% and 35% of the capital asset costs and it is estimated
that the grants given to regional businesses to date have leveraged
£314 million of private investment.
emda is providing an additional £9.5 million to the GBI
scheme, with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
contributing a further £1.4 million. The funding will be made
available to support businesses up until 2014.
The GBI is available to businesses from all parts of the region,
however the ERDF money has a particular focus on supporting
projects from the Priority Axis 2 (PA2) areas of the East Midlands.
These include the cities of Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and
Lincoln, the towns of Corby, Chesterfield, Mansfield, and Boston
and the districts of Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover and East
Lindsey. Projects that could, in future, potentially be supported
by the ERDF funding, include business projects creating jobs rather
than investing in assets alone.
Speaking about the benefits of the programme, John O'Reilly,
emda's Business Support Director, said: "In the current economic
climate, the GBI scheme is more relevant than ever. It allows
companies to obtain the finance that they need to undertake
important investments to develop and expand their businesses,
helping to create new jobs and wealth in the region."
Emma Corbett, emda's Strategy and European Programmes Director,
added: "The £1.4 million of ERDF funding which is going into
this programme will help to support major projects in businesses
based in the 12 Priority Axis 2 areas. PA2 areas face a number of
challenges, and we anticipate that the ERDF money will result in
significant job creation and private sector investment in these
areas.
These investments will also ensure that the businesses supported
will be in a good position to take advantage of the upturn when it
arrives."
GBI is available to qualifying businesses in a number of
industries. The criteria relate to location, need, the size and
type of the business, the nature and size of the investment, job
creation, viability, and the quality of the project.
For full details of the scheme and to find out if your business
is eligible for the GBI, visit http://www.emda.org.uk/gbi, where initial
application forms are available to download.
For more information about other business support that is
available, contact the Business Link on 0845 058 6644, or visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/eastmidlands