Call the Boost
team today:
0800 488 0057
Call the Boost
team today:
0800 488 0057
Welcome to the Boost business support directory. Within here you will further details of our funded Boost programmes, as well as an up-to-date directory of other available business support in Lancashire.
Don’t know where to start? We have an experienced team of relationship managers who can save you time and money by matching and introducing you to the support that’s best for you.
Our relationship managers will also work with you to evaluate the challenges and opportunities you face in your business. To speak to our team, please call
call 0800 488 0057.
If you are starting a business – or in the first three years - this funded programme will give you the support, knowledge and tools to make it sustainable and grow.
If you’re running a SME business, this hugely successful and popular programme gives you access to a fully-funded, experienced mentor to work alongside your team and support you on your growth journey.
If you’ve been trading for more than three years and employ more than 10 staff, this funded programme is tailored to your needs and will support your ambitious plans to achieve significant growth.
We can help Lancashire SMEs, start-ups and entrepreneurs in the digital and creative sector grow with advice, practical help, workshops, masterclasses and research or through collaboration.
Are you a Lancashire employer who wants to help your people improve their health and well-being (plus the environment) by encouraging cycling or walking to work?
Are you looking to recruit and train new staff for your growing business? Having problems finding and keeping employees? Access to Employment has been developed with these needs in mind.
Are you looking to grow your business but struggling to find the finance to make it happen? Are you considering alternative sources of finance like venture capital, business angel investment or crowdfunding and need further specialist support?
AMRC NW, based in Preston, is a world leading advanced manufacturing centre supporting manufacturers to engage with and adopt new technologies, processes and materials to reduce costs and drive efficiencies.
Do you need skilled workers to safeguard the future of your business? Are you looking for new ideas and energy in your business? Offering apprenticeships can help your business grow.
Be the Business Boards offers a range of activities in Lancashire aimed at encouraging business leaders to share and learn from each other and designed to fit in around the demands of running a business.
Do you need help understanding what regulations apply to your business and ensuring you achieve and maintain compliance? BBfA is a government initiative to help you do this.
This project offers partially-funded support to boost skills in businesses. Building Successful Futures will help businesses to upskill the workforce through a wide range of different programmes.
Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) has developed a range of new programmes starting in 2022 to help Lancashire SMEs to innovate, develop and grow.
A successful business begins with a healthy team! By bringing together a range of local and national partners, including Active Lancashire, Lancashire Mind and UCLan, Business Health Matters supports local businesses in improving the physical and mental health of their employees so that staff are happier, healthier and more productive.
RKMS deliver 95% funded change management programmes that embed modern cultures of continuous improvement where client organisations embrace new levels of productivity and customer focus from within.
Online peer-learning programme, from the Lancashire Forum, specifically designed to help Lancashire SMEs understand how they can create, deliver and capture value differently in order to withstand external forces and market crises.
Do you want a tailored business growth plan for your company and introductions to relevant support for growing Lancashire businesses?
Access the capital you need to grow your business. Venture Capital investment up to £200k available for high-growth potential technology and science companies in Lancashire.
Are you a Lancashire-based business? Do you want to reduce your carbon footprint, save money and drive energy efficiencies?
Looking to raise growth finance for your start-up, early stage or growing business? Do you want to retain control of raising finance while building a crowd of investors who believe in your business?
Digital Boost supports small businesses and charities to develop the essential digital skills they need to adopt new digital ways of working and grow their businesses
We can help Lancashire SMEs, start-ups and entrepreneurs in the digital and creative sector grow with advice, practical help, workshops, masterclasses and research or through collaboration.
Are you bamboozled by social media? Mystified by SEO? Know that VR and AR could improve your business but you're not sure how? Digitalplus will give you impartial advice and practical support to learn more about these digital tools and how to use them to boost your business.
Are you a Lancashire manufacturing business needing support with assessing your current technology levels, developing your manufacturing processes, growing your business and becoming 'Industry 4.0' ready?
Become a low carbon business ready for the future! The business landscape has changed. The transition to a low carbon economy has already begun. Let us help you change the way you do business by adopting low carbon business solutions.
Collaborating with education and training to benefit your business
Are you a Lancashire based business looking to use digital tools and platforms to grow, streamline processes or become more digitally resilient? This programme of workshops and 1:1 support will help you to find the right digital tools in the areas of productivity, marketing, ecommerce and cloud accounting.
From international transport to rural education, ESA Business Applications has enabled data from satellites to transform businesses. We have already invested over £500m in launching innovative services in businesses.
The ESA BIC UK provides access to funding, expertise and networks to support entrepreneurs and start-ups utilising space technology to grow.
The Fast Track Digital Workforce Fund aims to help employers in the Greater Manchester and Lancashire areas to address their specialist digital skills needs through short, innovative, bespoke training.
Are you a manufacturing or engineering business aspiring to enter the nuclear supply chain - in new build, operations and decommissioning?
Are you an existing company in Lancashire with an overseas parent company? Would you like help securing more investment and / or support for further expansion in Lancashire?
Are you looking for a quick and affordable loan of up to £1m for your growing business without the costs and complexity of dealing with a bank?
The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme supports the cost of installing full fibre broadband connections direct to businesses for the fastest and most reliable gigabit-capable broadband speeds available.
Been trading for less than three years and keen to grow your business? Do you have the potential to scale-up? Do you want to win bigger customers?
Are you a small business owner fed up with admin taking too much time away from achieving your goals? Receive up to 10 hours of free training worth £1,000 covering finance, marketing, people and time management.
As part of Lancaster University's £41m Health Innovation Campus there are fully-funded opportunities for SME businesses in Lancashire to grow and innovate in health.
Help to Grow: Digital is a UK-wide government-backed scheme that aims to help you choose, buy and adopt digital technologies that will help you grow your business.
Take your business to the next level with Help to Grow. Develop your strategic leadership skills, and boost your business's long-term growth.
Are you the leader of a North West SME business who wants to grow and scale using industrial digital technologies? The IN4.0 ACCESS Accelerator provides access to tools and techniques that can help businesses succeed.
Are you looking to grow your business by launching a new product? Need advice on how feasible your product idea is, help to design, develop and test the product or support in developing a launch strategy?
Are you a business based in East Lancashire? Does your business need to compete in international markets? Are you looking to international markets to increase sales, reduce costs or grow your business?
Are you a business based in North or West Lancashire? Does your business need to compete in international markets? Are you looking to international markets to increase sales, reduce costs or grow your business?
Before entering any new international market, it is essential to make informed decisions based on knowledge, research and strategic planning. We offer fully-funded impartial advice through our team of trade and e-commerce advisers to nurture your international ambitions.
The European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) are designed to support businesses looking to grow their international trade. SMEs can apply for match-funded grants of between £1,000 and £9,000 which will be available for proposed future activities (subject to eligibility).
There’s more money than ever before but most SMEs fail to raise investment! Led by experienced venture capital investors, we help SMEs prepare for venture capital, angel investment and crowd funding and can introduce you to investors.
Digital Boost has launched a customised version of the Government's £2 billion Kickstart to help small businesses and charities take on fully funded young employees.
Are you looking to develop your skills or those of your staff? The Learning and Development Service at Lancashire County Council offer a wide variety of Personal Development, Leadership & Management and IT Training courses.
The Lancashire Cyber Foundry (LCF) has been created to share the expertise of Lancaster University with businesses to prepare them for their digital future.
Are you looking to develop yourself as a leader in addition to growing your business? Want insights and inspiration from leading business experts while building up a network of fellow business owners from across Lancashire?
Are you the owner of or a senior manager in a Lancashire creative or digital business? Would you benefit from sector specific leadership development workshops and the opportunity to network with a group of your peers?
Lancashire Health Matters offers support and development to any innovative businesses across Lancashire capable of moving into the health and care sectors with new or existing products.
Are you a Lancashire digital / technology businesses who is looking for help to develop your software product(s) while scaling up your business?
Do you need help to find suitable staff for your growing business? Could you offer Lancashire County Council's Looked After Children, or young people leaving care work experience or employment opportunities?
The fully-funded Chartered Management Institute (CMI) qualifications are designed to build an effective and agile management team that can help your business to be more resilient, stay focused and continue to grow.
RKMS deliver 95% funded change management programmes that embed modern cultures of continuous improvement where client organisations embrace new levels of productivity and customer focus from within.
Lancashire County Council is delivering a fully funded £1m Low Carbon Heat Grant aiming to help Lancashire SMEs achieve their Low Carbon heating goals.
Are you a manufacturing company curious about how digital technology might help your business? Or are you a digital service provider looking to support manufacturers?
Have you got the leadership skills and know how to manage the adoption of Industrial Digital Technologies by your business?
Are you a Lancashire SME business looking for grant funding and funded support to reduce your carbon footprint? UCLan’s MaCaW (Making Carbon Work) programme can help you.
Manufacturing Connect helps SMEs understand digital business technologies, how these technologies can make business improvements, and how to tackle some of the common pitfalls during implementation. Advice is provided by technology experts and manufacturing SMEs. Manufacturing Connect focuses on customer relationship management, material resource planning and production planning technologies.
NextGenChem is a Lancashire-based Hub for chemistry innovation. Our mission is to help local businesses to develop next-generation technology solutions, improved products and novel materials. We are looking to engage with innovation hungry Lancashire SMEs in chemical-using industries.
Are you a Lancashire business working in, or aspiring to work within, the aerospace sector? Do you need help to promote your business within the sector and to keep abreast of trends and developments affecting your industry?
Is your business in the automotive industry or the sector supply chain? Are you looking to improve business practices, increase sustainability, become more competitive and boost profits?
Are you looking for growth finance to help you achieve your ambitions? Whether you're an entrepreneur, a start-up or an established SME business the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) has a range of finance options for you.
Are you aged between 18 and 30 and unemployed (or working fewer than 16 hours per week)? You could get help from the Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme to help you to start up in business.
Which aspects of your business model are hindering your growth? How will you increase and optimise your pipeline of profitable customers and projects? Or are there changes to your service design, structure, or business processes that would improve your productivity? Unsure or need support? The Productivity & Innovation Centre can help.
Do you have growth aspirations for your business, but you need help to unlock its potential? If that sounds like your business, then the Propel 2 Grow programme is for you.
Rosebud offers loans of £10,000 up to £300,000 for businesses across the 12 administrative areas of Lancashire County Council. Funded by Lancashire County Developments Ltd, we aim to support businesses across the region to grow, create jobs and reach their full potential.
The purpose of the £1 million Rural Community Energy Fund is to provide feasibility and project development grant funding to rural community groups that want to develop their own renewable energy projects.
The STFC CERN Business incubation Centre offers extensive support to entrepreneurs aiming to take high energy physics technologies from an initial innovative concept to market.
Do you want to raise investment to finance your startup or growing business? Considering crowdfunding but need legal advice and support to easily present your business to a large community of potential investors?
Are you looking for training for your staff to support your business? Do you want to invest in developing your workforce to improve staff motivation, retention and productivity? Skills Support for the Workforce can help.
Are you starting a new business or been trading for less than two years and need finance for your new business? Looking to borrow between £500 and £25,000 over one to five years to help your business grow?
The STELa project is supporting Lancashire’s SMEs to overcome the barriers to providing industrial or other work placements to Lancashire’s students. If you aren’t sure how placements work, or what you would need to do as an employer then the STELa Project can provide you with support and advice.
Tech Nation is the UK network for ambitious tech entrepreneurs. It empowers entrepreneurs to grow faster through growth programmes, digital entrepreneurship skills, a visa scheme for exceptional talent, and championing the UK’s digital sector through data, stories and media campaigns.
Do you need help identifying and protecting the intellectual property you own and use in your business? When properly managed, the value of your IP can far outweigh the physical assets, accounting for over 70% of your business’ value.
U Start will support students, graduates and university staff to unlock their entrepreneurial potential and become enterprise ready. The project will also support student, graduate and university staff start-ups to increase their resilience and enable them to be growth ready.
UNITEplus brings together Lancashire SMEs wanting to develop capacity through the uptake of new tools and techniques, with students and graduates looking for high quality placements in Lancashire.
Are you a Lancashire based SME looking to increase the skills and capabilities of your workforce? UCLan’s Upskilling Lancashire provides free advice and support enabling businesses to gain new skills and fill knowledge gaps.
If you are an SME that positively contributes to improving health and wellbeing outcomes in Lancashire, this is for you. A free, bespoke offer that takes a holistic look at your organisation to identify and address where you, your business and your team can develop.
Would you like to find out more about the excellent business support available to you? Or maybe you’d like to find out how we’ve helped over 8,000 businesses since 2013? Contact our team to start your growth conversation.
