Approved Supporting Local Business Projects

Below are details of the 9 projects being delivered under the Supporting Local Business Investment Priority. Should you require any further information, please contact us at ukspf@sunderland.gov.uk

BIPC Local Provision

Delivery Organisation: Newcastle City Council/ BIPC North East

Our project aims to continue to support the creation and growth of micro, small and medium sized enterprises, social enterprises and not-for profit organisations within Sunderland and the wider north-east region.

Pre-start, startup and business support provision provided by other local agencies will be complimented and enhanced by a wider Business & Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) programme of activity; which offers face-to-face and online access to intellectual property and business expertise (through BIPC Experts in Residence); business databases; a programme of events and workshops providing skills training, networking opportunities and linking clients into the broader business support network.

Contact: Sarah Turnbull - Sarah.Turnbull@newcastle.gov.uk

Weblink: https://www.bipcnortheast.co.uk/

Business Renewables Energy Efficiency Sunderland (BREEZ)

Delivery Organisation: Sunderland City Council

The UKSPF project will deliver a tailored energy efficiency grant support programme for an initial target of 27 enterprises/community groups in the Sunderland area by March 2026, achieving 125 tonnes of greenhouse gas savings (GHG). The grant scheme will offer grants at a 50% intervention rate (total project grant budget £241,400). The grant will contribute towards the cost of installing improvements which deliver energy and carbon savings to eligible enterprises (such as lighting & heating improvements, more efficient plant & equipment, renewable energy technologies and improvements to the building fabric).

In partnership with Sunderland City Council's Business Investment Team (BIT), BREEZ will provide ongoing energy advice and non-financial support to 52 enterprises and VCS organisations across Sunderland, available to all beneficiaries through the dedicated BREEZ website with a range of online resources, workshops, training, guidance and peer network opportunities.

Contact: Graeme Stephenson - graeme.stephenson@sunderland.gov.uk

Weblink: BREEZ - Business Renewables Energy Efficiency Sunderland - Sunderland City Council

Regional Business Growth Fund

Delivery Organisation: UMi Commercial Ltd

The Business Growth Fund is a capital investment grant funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund that supports business growth in Sunderland.

The primary aim of the fund is to create employment and stimulate business growth. It will foster innovative processes to drive productivity, resulting in increased profitability, wage growth and employment growth in businesses, strengthening our economy and creating better jobs.

The Fund aims to attract significant private sector investment and create new jobs in the city.

Telephone: 0191 716 1007

Email address: businessgrowthfund@weareumi.co.uk

Weblink: www.businessgrowth.fund

Enterprising Sunderland

Delivery Organisation: North East Business & Innovation Centre (NE-BIC)

Delivery Partners: Sunderland BME Network, Transmit/Smarta, University of Sunderland, Princes Trust, SB International Centre, Sunderland City Council

Enterprising Sunderland is a consortium of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, in conjunction with public sector partners, all of whom have a vested interest in supporting enterprise and all of whom have a local base and an inherent commitment to the economic and social wellbeing of Sunderland, its residents and its businesses.

It will support a mixture of activities to deliver an increased entrepreneurial culture in Sunderland, new business starts, growth of existing businesses and specific support to them to innovate. It will operate all of its activities across the whole of the Sunderland City Council area.

Awareness raising - we will raise awareness of the opportunities around entrepreneurship. The aim is to get people thinking about enterprise as an option and to promote the availability of business support activity. This will be delivered by members of the consortium who are closest to the respective potential client groups, with some central coordination;

Engagement and Animation - this will be activity designed to help people consider the benefits of enterprise as an option and to start to formulate their approaches. This will be delivered by a variety of approaches appropriate to the client group;

Enterprising People - specific training and one-to-one advice will be available on the various aspects of starting a business. This will largely be delivered centrally but with customised provision for specific groups where this makes sense from a delivery perspective e.g. student/ graduate enterprise;

Enterprising businesses - encouraging and supporting enterprise and innovation in Sunderland businesses, through the provision of Growth Labs and Innovation Roadmap workshops as well as specific support to the retail sector to encourage diversification;

Solutions support - this will provide funding to deliver a mix of test the market grants and specialist support to pre-starts, as well as specialist support and start up grants to early stage businesses. This will be managed as one budget to further enable the project to be completely flexible in support of individual client needs. This more flexible approach has been designed in response to our internal evaluation of the current project, which has found that 'silo-ing' of particular interventions has proved a bar to maximising client benefit and impact.

Innovation grants - to support innovation grants, and to capitalise on the benefits from Innovation Roadmap workshops and Growth Labs.

Contact: Paul McEldon - info@ne-bic.co.uk

Weblink: www.ne-bic.co.uk

Esports Business Cluster

Delivery Organisation: British Esports Federation

Delivery Partners: Sunderland Software City

The support offered as part of the Esports Business Cluster aims to help businesses in Sunderland understand the benefits to them of engaging in the rapidly evolving esports industry. Working with the British Esports Federation and Sunderland Software City provides those businesses with a unique opportunity to develop new products and services that will enable them to access new audiences and deliver bespoke services that will integrate new or emerging technologies linked to esports, AI and wider tech innovation.

The programme also includes support for potential entrepreneurs looking to set up a business in Sunderland as well as existing esports businesses, and businesses adjacent to the esports industry looking to pivot to access one of the fastest growing industries globally.

Depending on the type of organisation or individual support required, the support will consist of:

1. Incubation activity

2. Workshops to share high level strategic knowledge around esports and emerging technologies to best place businesses for impact and innovation

3. Esports specific training interventions enabling knowledge transfer

4. Esports networking events where local SMEs connect with global esports brands creating partnership opportunities

5. Supply Chain SME workshops and networking events helping local businesses to take advantage of the opportunities working in the sector provides

6. Focused support for potential entrepreneurs

The project will be delivered from the National Esports Performance Campus, The Place in Sunderland City Centre in partnership with Sunderland Software City.

Contact: Dave Martin - dm@britishesports.org

Weblink: https://britishesports.org/

Sunderland Innovate and Grow

Delivery Organisation: University of Sunderland

Delivery Partners: Sunderland Culture

Sunderland Innovate and Grow (SIG) brings together a range of complementary activities to catalyse and support innovation and business growth in the city.

The programme will benefit Sunderland-based companies by improving business practices, products and profits. Activity will support all steps of the innovation cycle through:

• Identifying and promoting new technologies to stimulate innovation in process, product and business model via subject innovation specialists (Arrow);
• Addressing gaps in business capacity and capability to innovate through active engagement and grant support, and student and graduate placements (Arrow and Innovation Placements);
• Spotting innovative ideas and bringing them to market through engagement with commercial partners (Northern Accelerator);
• Addressing innovation needs in the creative sector by engaging sector specialists (Sunderland Culture Unlock Programme).

Contact: Mike Jurowski, Bev Trees, Ross Waldie

Email address: innovation@sunderland.ac.uk

Weblink: https://www.sunderland.ac.uk/more/enterprise-innovation/innovate-and-grow/

Wear Together Initiative

Delivery Organisation: North East Business & Innovation Centre

Wear Together supports the start-up and growth of social enterprises in Sunderland. We provide one-to-one specialist social enterprise advice as well as a programme of workshops and networking events.

Wear Together provides social entrepreneurs in Sunderland with access to business support assisting them with start, development, and growth of social businesses.  The programme helps individuals to explore their social enterprise ideas through the development of business plans, Business Model Canvas and financial forecasting as well as exploring legal structures and funding opportunities.

The programme supports established/post start social businesses to increase their sustainability, develop new products and services, create jobs, and grow their businesses and inevitably their social impact in Sunderland. Support will be offered 1:1, small groups or through workshop programmes.

Wear Together brings the sector together and encourages peer to per support mentoring and ideas exchange helping to develop sector resilience and collaboration.

Contact: Michelle Booth - socialenterprise@ne-bic.co.uk

Sunderland Business Support Fund

Delivery Organisation: Northumberland Business Services Limited

Overview of project: This Grant programme helps businesses to access external expertise to implement business growth and improvement plans. Grants, covering up to 40% of eligible business spend, are available to support projects costing between £3,000 and £6,000 (excluding VAT).

The project can support consultancy, design or development projects. Examples include: Web design / development, Video production, Development of Animations, Marketing planning, Business Growth Planning, Developing Quality Management Systems and Strategy Development.

Contact: John King - john.king@nbsl.org.uk

Weblink: https://growwithnbsl.org.uk/sunderland-business-support-fund-overview/

Supply Chain Sunderland

Delivery Organisation: RTC North

The Supply Chain Sunderland project will strengthen Sunderland's local entrepreneurial ecosystem by improving business resilience and growth, boosting survival rates, driving innovation, and enhancing market readiness for new supply chain opportunities.

Assistance will be provided to Sunderland SMEs in the manufacturing and service sectors to:

• Assess core capabilities and strengths.
• Identify areas for productivity enhancement, resilience building, and innovation.
• Access opportunities to grow market share and diversify income.

Delivery Strands:

Strand 1: Awareness Raising

• "Meet the Buyer" events for sectors like Screen Industries, Defence, Renewable Energy & Construction
• Online 'Supply Chain Exchange Portal'.
• Sector-specific events with partners like NEPO, NOF Energy, NEPIC, NERDSC and MAKE UK.

Strand 2: Account Management, Diagnostic, and Action Planning

• Capability review, market summary, growth aspirations, new market opportunities, and GAP analysis.

Strand 3: Low Intensity Support

• Interventions, events, and workshops on global markets, procurement, bid writing, process improvement, value proposition and sales, branding & marketing.

Eligibility:

• Sunderland SMEs in the manufacturing and service sectors.

Contact: Lesley Hawke - lesley.hawke@rtcnorth.co.uk

Weblink: https://supplychainnorth.co.uk/sunderland/