The Collaboration 4 Growth project providing business support to SMEs who trade on a business to business has come to an end after seven years during which it has supported more than 350 businesses in nd around Lincoln.
The project was run through a collaborative effort involving Lincoln BIG and the Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce, and funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
Charlotte Watson, Deputy Chief Executive at Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce said “The C4G project has been an invaluable opportunity to support business growth for SME’s in West Lindsey, North Kesteven and the City of Lincoln. The variety of business support, free workshops and grants provided have proved a successful and required tool to help local start-ups and SME’s take the next step and grow.”
“A huge part of C4G was the revenue and capital grants available for micro, small and medium businesses. We are delighted to have awarded 123 businesses with more than £605,000 in grants, providing 60% of the total cost of staffing, equipment, and support. A grant beneficiary from Electric Egg Ltd stated “It successfully created logistical, financial, and creative benefits for us.”
Alongside the grants, C4G provided 242 businesses with 12 hours of support, this involved free business advice on a one-to-one basis, or in the form of workshops and /networking opportunities.
A workshop attendee from Five Rounds More commented ““It has provided a basic understanding which I’ve been able to use to go forward and learn more from, as a steppingstone to developing a better marketing and social media interaction for my customers.”
Workshops covered a variety of topics ranging from Social Media 101, Photography, Paid Advertising, Media Communication & Awareness, Presenting with Excellence and much more!
The project aimed to create new opportunities for SME’s and successfully created 68 new job roles and 13 new enterprises.
Yvette Mills, Lincoln BIG’s Project Manager, stated “I have thoroughly enjoyed working on the project and have made a lot of new connections from a wide variety of businesses through hosting workshops, conferences and networking events. It has been a lot of fun and very rewarding supporting the businesses both through the grant scheme and also through workshops.”
