More partner organisations sign up to back Boost

A further 21 private and public sector organisations have signed up to give their backing to Boost Business Lancashire – the county’s £7.2m business growth hub.

Boost has now recruited a total of 33 firms to act as champions of the service and to refer their ambitious clients and members to Boost’s range of free and part-funded business support programmes.

Accountancy, legal, financial services, marketing and education providers, as well as business support organisations, are among the latest contingent to have joined Boost & Co, as the partnership is known.

They are Blue Wren, Champion Accountants, Chorley Council, Downtown Lancashire, Desired Fabrications, Enterprise Ventures, Farleys solicitors, Forbes solicitors, Freshfield, Lancashire Business Angels, Galen Partners, Marketing Lancashire, Napthens solicitors, PM+M, Preston’s College, Propel, Tigerfish PR, The Melia Partnership, Vincents Solicitors, Yorkshire Bank, and 1 Business Enterprise.

Andrew Leeming, senior projects officer for Lancashire County Council, said: “We launched Boost & Co to better engage with the wider business support community in Lancashire and to encourage our members to communicate the Boost message to their own clients, customers and partners.

“It has been a tremendous success in terms of increasing the number of growing Lancashire businesses being referred to receive support from our Boost programmes.”

Boost aims to grow the county’s economy by £20m, create at least 1,200 new jobs and safeguard 700 more by 2015.

It is being delivered through a partnership between Lancashire County Council, Community & Business Partners, Lancaster University, Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and Winning Pitch. £3.6m has been provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Boost offers a range of services, most of them free and some part-funded, including:

• Growth Mentoring by Community & Business Partners; providing high-growth mentoring support through successful business leaders who have already worked through similar challenges.
• Lancashire Forum; an exclusive leadership peer-to-peer networking and development programme run by Lancaster University.
• Lancashire LEAP; led by Winning Pitch and Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, providing advice to pre-start and early start (1-3 year-old) businesses.
• UCLan’s Innovation Clinic; aimed at supporting advanced manufacturing and engineering companies to develop new products and move into new markets.
• Growth Sectors Support; specialist in-depth, independent, practical support to help businesses in the creative and digital, environmental, advanced manufacturing, aerospace and finance sectors; to accelerate business growth.
• Growth Skills Assist; providing free training to equip leadership teams with the skills required to achieve their growth goals.
• GrowthAccelerator; delivered in Lancashire by Winning Pitch; the national programme of coaching and advice for high-growth businesses.
• Access to Finance; helping business owners to identify and access the right type of funding to deliver their growth aspirations.
• Growth Grants; non-repayable grants of between £5,000 and £1m to help businesses grow, delivered by Regenerate Pennine Lancashire.

Businesses can sign up to the programme through our online form or by calling 0800 488 0057.