Stephen and Kathleen Coates opened Optimill in January 2013, a company that produces and supplies tailored components to other aerospace, automotive and medical companies. Thanks to demand and free business support they will soon recruit some more new staff.

Regenerate Pennine Lancashire is bidding for £7m from the Regional Growth Fund to create hundreds of new jobs across the county. The Accelerating Business Growth PLUS bid will offer medium-sized businesses financial support to help them grow.

Lancashire entrepreneurs are being asked to consider alternative methods of funding after new research suggests that more than three quarters of entrepreneurs plan to use retained earnings to finance growth within the next year.

Business Secretary Vince Cable today congratulated a local business and a Government partnership in Lancashire for securing more than £9 million from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.