Multi-million pounds cash boost for businesses in South West Wales
23 March 2009
Small and medium sized companies across South West Wales are being offered new cash grants of up to £5,000 for investing in equipment and premises improvements, one-off marketing costs, website development and other specialist software costs.
The £19 million project which will run until March 2015 has been launched across the five counties of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.
The funding has been released through the South West Wales Local Investment Fund (LIF) which aims to increase the number of new firms in the region and offer better support to existing companies.
Over the next six years, 1,000 jobs are expected to be created, 1,400 companies supported and a further 400 new enterprises set up.
Cllr Clive Scourfield, Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board Member for Regeneration said:
“The project will provide support to businesses to help them develop and meet market opportunities. The investment will further strengthen the economic base of this region creating jobs, improving business competitiveness and bringing increased prosperity to the region.”
Carmarthenshire County Council will lead the project in partnership with Ceredigion County Council, City & County of Swansea, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and Pembrokeshire County Council together with the West Wales Chamber of Commerce.
The first grants have already been approved with a new team in place to handle future applications and in each case assessing them on their potential for delivering value to the local economy.
The £19m South West Wales Local Investment Fund (LIF) is being supported by £8.9m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the Convergence programme.
Vibe TV Ltd, an independent media production company based in Swansea, providing services to private parties, corporate clients and county councils is an example of a business that applied to the South West LIF Cymru scheme and was successfully awarded grant funding to invest in professional equipment.
Notes
1. With the additional grant funding awarded to Vibe TV Ltd, the business now intends to focus on the commercial market by offering television programmes, tv commercials, corporate DVD's for both promotional and training purposes, as well as video podcasts for websites.
2. Vibe TV required further professional items in order to create a studio and develop the i-star arm of its business which produces show reels of people aspiring to work in the entertainment industry. This new equipment has also opened up the export market for the Swansea based company as they are now able to offer a Web Presenter Service which allows companies to advertise their products or services on their websites.
3. The total project cost for completing the studio was £7,791.33. Grant support of £3,117 was awarded to Vibe TV Ltd.
Ends
For application details,contact Andrea Traylor, Tel: 01269 590271 or e-mail ajtraylor@carmarthenshire.gov.uk