Grants and Funding
Launch of £250,000 Kitchen Table Entrepreneurs Competition
The Kitchen Table Entrepreneurs Competition aims to help businesspeople bring their enterprising ideas, imagined during the coronavirus lockdown, to fruition.
Successful participants will be awarded grants to grow or buy the basics they need to commence trading.
The competition has an overall budget of £250,000.
Prizes are as follows:
25 grants of £5,000 will be given to existing small businesses looking to expand.
25 grants of £5,000 will be given new businesses needing some funding to get started.
Applications are open to entrepreneurs and micro business owners who are residents of the UK and aged 18 or over.
A panel of experts will choose the winners and grants will be allocated in June and July.
The deadline for applications is 22 May 2021 (23:59 BST).
Click here for more info
Scottish Enterprise Green Jobs Fund Opens Soon
Scottish Enterprise Green Jobs Funding has been established to help businesses generate and maintain jobs that improve the environment and support projects that align to the Scottish Government’s net zero policies (ie achieving net zero carbon and greenhouse gas emissions by 2045).
Grants between £50,000 and £500,000 are available (between 10% and 50% of eligible project costs to support the following activities:
Creation of green jobs.
Capital equipment purchases (such as buying new machinery).
Investment in premises (for example, to help expand activities that contribute to the green economy).
Research and development activities (for example, to develop innovative new products and services or improve existing products and services to make them more sustainable).
Businesses of any size, registered or trading in the Scottish Enterprise area or looking to set up a trading location in this area before 1 October 2021, may apply.
Applications for Round One open on 18 May 2021 and close on 15 June 2021.
Applications Open for £20m SME Brexit Support Fund
The SME Brexit Support Fund has been established to help small and medium businesses with changes to trading regulations with the EU, including new customs, rules of origin, and VAT arrangements.
The Fund will help businesses prepare for the implementation of import controls which come into force from April and July 2021. The Government is introducing these new controls in stages, allowing traders and hauliers time to adjust to new processes. This means businesses do not have to complete new import declarations for up to six months, unless they are moving controlled goods.
This is a £20 million programme. SMEs that trade only with the EU, and are therefore new to importing and exporting processes, will be encouraged to apply for grants of up to £2,000 for each trader. The grants will pay for practical support for importing and exporting, including training and professional advice to ensure businesses can continue trading effectively with the EU.
To be eligible, businesses must import or export goods between Great Britain and the EU, or move goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Applications will close on 30 June 2021 or earlier if all funding is allocated prior to this date.
Apply here
Vaccine Information Fund Accepting Applications in Scotland
The Scottish Government wants to ensure that all people in Scotland have equal access to information about the Covid-19 vaccines. To this end, it is providing funding to enable communities to hold engagement sessions about the vaccine programme and develop information resources that can be used for different communities with particular interest in reaching asylum seekers, multi-generational minority ethnic groups, newer migrant individuals and communities, and African and Black communities which have their own specific issues that need to be addressed.
Grants of up to £1,000 are available for activities taking place between March 2021 and August 2021.
The funding could be used to:
Raise awareness of the vaccine and the vaccination programme
Run online engagement sessions to discuss the vaccine
Create written or visual information resources in members’ mother tongues
Overcome and dispel misinformation about Covid-19 and the vaccine
Other creative ideas are welcome.
Examples of activities include, but are not limited to:
Hosting a series of online events for the community to raise awareness about the vaccine and vaccination process and ask questions.
Develop a mother tongue resource that can be used to help share information to the community and others who share the same language.
Using an ongoing service or event to enable people to have an open discussion about the vaccine in any language that is best.
All activities must comply with all relevant COVID-19 social distancing rules as set out by the Scottish Government.
The programme is being managed by BEMIS, the national Ethnic Minorities led umbrella body supporting the development of the Ethnic Minorities Voluntary Sector in Scotland and the communities that this sector represents.
No application deadlines have been published.
Click here to apply.
Update to Adapt and Thrive Programme: Scottish Groups Have an Extra Three Months to Apply
Charities, voluntary organisations, community groups, and social enterprises based in Scotland whose work has been significantly disrupted due to the pandemic can apply for specialist advice and funding to help them make the necessary changes to move forward.
The funding includes:
Grants between £5,000-£75,000 to make the changes needed to operate sustainably.
Flexible, 0% interest loans from £25,000 to £250,000. All loans recommendations will be based on an assessment of the organisation’s ability to service debt.
In some cases, a blended approach of both grant and loan may be recommended. When this is the case, the minimum loan ‘portion’ that can be offered is £25,000.
The funding is intended to be flexible and will be awarded on an unrestricted basis. Organisations will be able to adapt and divert the funding to what their organisation needs if circumstances change (for example in the case of a local lockdown).
Examples of the types of costs that can be funded include:
Costs associated with adapting premises for re-opening (eg, PPE, perspex, glass).
Staff salaries (eg, bringing back staff who have been furloughed so they can support the implementation of the recovery plan).
Consultancy or short-term contracted staff.
Contributions towards capital expenditure.
Stock or materials required to support the implementation of the recovery plan.
Changes to services if these changes directly support the recovery plan.
Essential overheads and other fixed costs.
Priority will be given to organisations that fall within one or both of the following categories:
Those operating in areas or with individuals who have suffered disproportionately from the effects of COVID-19, and where ongoing support is needed to ensure they are part of and benefit from the recovery efforts.
Those working with people who have protected characteristics or the most vulnerable.
The deadline for applications has been extended from 31 March to 30 June 2021. |
