Fuse Fund, a two year £4m Regional Growth Fund (RGF) programme to help young businesses in Lancashire realise their ambitious growth plans, has made its first award to a Blackpool business.
PNG Digital, a new start up business based at the Blackpool Business Park on Amy Johnson Way has been awarded a grant of over £9,500, which is part of a total £38,000 capital investment to purchase new machinery to help the company grow.
Owner Michael Rawcliffe, has worked in the printing industry for over 24 years and launched the business earlier this year. He will use the new state of the art machinery to offer clients a wide range of printing solutions including stationery, brochures, booklets, posters, catalogues, leaflets and flyers.
Commenting on the awarding of the Fuse Fund grant Michael said: “As a new business initial start-up costs and constraints on cashflow are always critical. Being able to access grant funding from Fuse Fund has helped us acquire the very latest technology that allows us to offer the highest quality products and compete effectively.”
Grants of between £5,000 and £50,000 are being offered by Fuse Fund, contributing a quarter of the overall cost for capital investment projects such as machinery, property improvement, building expansion and infrastructure improvement in businesses trading for less than 36 months. Recipients will need to commit to creating jobs.
Commenting on the awarding of the Fuse Fund grant, Steven Cochrane, Director at Regenerate Pennine Lancashire said: “The Fuse Fund has been specifically developed to help ambitious young businesses like PNG Digital. It’s clear that the grant will help give them the competitive edge and contribute significantly towards their future growth and job creation.
“We hope other young businesses in the Fylde area that are looking to grow are inspired by their ambition and look forward to receiving many more applications from the area”.
Priority is being given to businesses in the manufacturing, digital and creative, environmental and energy technology sectors, but projects from other business to business sectors are also considered.
Fuse Fund is a private and public sector partnership led by Regenerate Pennine Lancashire and Lancashire Business View, with support provided by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.
Find out more about Fuse Fund here.
Find out about the Regional Growth Fund at www.bis.gov.uk/rgf
