Grants
There is an abundance of grants available, not just from Government, local authorities, the Lottery and Europe but also from private sources such as the Prince's Trust and Shell. Over £4 billion p.a. in total. Grant aid is available for all sorts of projects, although the main targets are businesses involved in innovation, research, export, heritage and arts, technology and training and those based in 'disadvantaged' areas.
The key challenges are identifying what grants are available, and completing the paperwork required. It is important to understand how to present a proposal for a particular grant. Ensure that the project in question matches the grant criteria as closely as possible. The project should be well defined and demonstrate commercial viability.
Most grants will only fund a part of a project - often up to a maximum of 50%, so you must have matched funding to complete the total cost requirement.
The main Government grant is the Grant for Business Investment (GBI) - see http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/regional/investment/page29183.html
There are many smaller grant schemes, many localised and administered by Business Link, who have a grant search facility on their website, as does SWRDA.
www.businesslink.gov.uk
www.southwestrda.org.uk