Something a little different from us this week, but it could be equally as valuable to your business. In fact, thanks to this, you could be looking at receiving some serious hard cash to help your business grow.
Sound good? Then read on. You see it all comes down to a grant we recently discovered that's being given away by the Department for International Trade (DIT) in association with the European Regional Development Fund. It's called the 'Exporting for Growth' grant and it's basically aimed at small UK businesses looking to expand overseas. We think this could be ideal for some of the small businesses we already provide business accommodation for, but even if you're not working with us yet – we thought this might help you out. Indeed, if your business is looking to break into another market abroad and would like to do some advertising there, attend a few conferences or even go as far as to set up shop…you could be eligible. How much are we talking? Well, get this: How does anywhere between £1,000 and £10,000 sound? Pretty good, right? And, according to the DIT, who we wrote to for clarification, you can spend it on all these things:
- Costs of getting to the target country and in-country accommodation
- Entrance to exhibitions/trade fairs and shipping of any associated products
- Design and production and printing of international marketing materials specifically for target markets
- Internationalisation of website, translation, creation of social media profiles, SEO
- Consultancy relating to patents, trademarks or copyright
- Product registration relating to international markets
- International market research (excluding OMIS)
- Consultancy to help develop your export strategy
- Mentoring / consultancy for language and cultural awareness
- Export professional training and language training for target countries
Of course, it comes with a load of catches, or terms and conditions as people like to call them. And there's a list of stuff that's ineligible too. But it's fair enough when the government is effectively handing out free cash here. The main issues are that your business has to match fund the grant and it needs to be on new things you're planning. In other words, you have to put up some investment cash too and you can't use the grant to pay for stuff you've already organised. They're also looking to small businesses that will take on new staff because of the expansion overseas. Still, this could be a huge boost for the right businesses and we think it's definitely worth investigating. Don't wait around though: the grant ends March 2019, so you need to get organised. You can find out more about the Exporting For Growth grant by visiting the official website here:
https://www.export4growth.co.uk/how-to-apply Alternatively, if you're not sure about whether you're eligible or not or what exactly it involves, we've done a fair bit of digging behind the scenes and would be happy to help you as best we can. You can reach us, as ever, on 0330 090 41 42.
