Access to finance and green aims top of business agenda in Shropshire, new figures reveal

Data compiled by business support teams in Shropshire , Telford & Wrekin and Herefordshire, shows the vast majority of enquiries they received in the last three months concerned funding opportunities.

The figures, which cover April to June this year, show 75 per cent of enquiries were about either the Marches Energy Grant scheme – which offers help to cut energy bills and carbon emissions – or other funding programmes and finance.

The three teams – the Herefordshire Growth Hub, Shropshire Growth Hub and Invest Telford – provide comprehensive support to the business community across the region in conjunction with the Marches Growth Hub website.

The website offers a comprehensive guide to the funding programmes, business support and advice, skills training, events and seminars and workshops on offer throughout the region.

The latest figures from the three teams showed 971 businesses were interacted with over the three months and 962 attended events organised by the teams.

There were 355 referrals made to funding, business growth, support or advice programmes with 40 per cent of enquires related to the Marches Energy Grant.

Some 35 per cent were about funding or finance and 15 per cent concerned general business advice, while 10 per cent related to skills and training, events and other issues.

Matthew Potts, business growth and investment services manager at Shropshire Council, said the figures showed that accessing finance to help fund growth and development – as well as meeting Net Zero targets – remained a key priority for businesses.

“We know that very many businesses across the region are ambitious for the future but putting together the money to invest in their own growth and success continues to be a challenge," he said. "We can help – and have a proud track record of supporting all sizes and types of business in our region to meet their ambitions."

Of the enquiries received over the past three months, 33 per cent were from companies which have been trading for between one and three years, 28.5 per cent from start-ups, 20 per cent from businesses which were older than three years old and 13.5 per cent from pre start-ups.

“The range of businesses – and in particular the number of pre start-ups and new businesses – shows that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well across the Marches," he added. opshire Growth Hub is available on 01743 250526 and Invest Telford can be contacted through email at Invest@telford.gov.uk