Wisbech firm is among those to benefit from a Combined Authority coronavirus business grant
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s rapid response to the coronavirus has so far seen £4.48 million in cash grants awarded to support local businesses.
The newly created Covid-19 Capital Grant Scheme has now awarded money to 106 businesses across the region to fund investments which are forecast to protect 479 jobs and create a further 238.
Mayor James Palmer has said the scheme has so far succeeded in awarding grant funding to businesses quickly. The grants will fund things like new equipment, products and technology which businesses need to help them adapt and recover from the coronavirus.
The funding is supporting eligible small and medium sized businesses employing six to 249 people, with grants of £2,000 up to £150,000.” Although there is significantly more demand for grants than the £5.4 million of funding available, Mayor Palmer is now seeking further sources of funding to top up the available pot.
A series of case studies have also detailed how those grants are delivering results on the ground.
Mayor James Palmer said: “We worked quickly to find as much cash as we could to load this fund to help local business. These are real cash grants, not loans, to directly support the capital investments businesses need to survive and adapt to a tectonic shock to the local, national and global economy which the coronavirus has brought.
“We’ve made it simple for businesses to access this money, using a common-sense approach in how we award these grants, because time is of the essence for so many employers.
“The grants will secure and create significant numbers of jobs, protecting people’s incomes and boosting business at this critical time.
“This is about easing the crisis but it is also about recovery, and adding some muscle to our local businesses so our economy can bounce back from the coronavirus as quickly as possible.
“But we also realise there is far more demand than we have funding available. That is why we’re using the success so far to seek opportunities to increase the fund further.”
An additional pot of £500,000 was also created to support the smallest, non-limited companies with grants of between £2,000 and £5,000 to help them survive and adapt.
The grants sit alongside other measures by the Mayoral Combined Authority and its Business Board to support local people and business. That includes free one-to-one consultations for businesses on how to safeguard their future, and a Talent Portal connecting people with jobs in the local economy.
The Capital Grant Scheme is currently oversubscribed, so new applications for funding are being put on hold until further sources of funding can be found.
One of the firms to benefit from the scheme is Wisbech-based Fountain Fresh Imports Ltd which received a grant of £46,000, which the company used to create an online grocery business.
Before the coronavirus, the fresh food import and distribution business in Walton Road didn’t do home deliveries.
Now, its swiftly created online grocery business is expected to add £1 million to their annual turnover.
“It has been a vital lift for us,” said Jack Hanson, managing director. “Our core business is fresh produce supply to the leisure, hospitality and education sectors. Coronavirus has been
a hammer blow to this part of the economy and therefore to us.”
“We’ve had to adapt. We didn’t even have a website before coronavirus, but we’ve quickly launched an online shop and we’re now making around 800 deliveries per week to people
in the local area.”
Jack has also been searching for as much loan, grant and other business support as possible from Government and local authorities to support Fountain Fresh through the
period.
He found out about the Combined Authority’s Covid-19 Capital Grants Scheme and decided to apply for funding to support the purchase of two vans for the new home deliveries.
“The grant has been a huge boost to us and our employees and we are all extremely grateful to the Government. Without the grant, we wouldn’t have committed to buying the vans and
we would have been forced to use the furlough scheme. The grant doesn’t just support jobs for the delivery drivers, but also for those in the warehouse sorting and packing the orders.”
“This side of the business will continue to be an important contributor to what we do after coronavirus and offers further future potential.”
The online delivery service offers a full weekly shop of goods. As well as a range of fresh fruit and vegetables, it offers store cupboard ingredients like tinned foods, pasta and flour.
There are dairy products and a vast range of locally sourced foods. This includes meat from local butchers, locally grown asparagus and other vegetables, preserves, cheeses and much
more. It is helping not only the local public during this time but also businesses that have to lost their ‘route to market’.
It is another string to the bow of a business which has grown rapidly from its Wisbech base and which turned over £20 million in its fifth year and employs a local workforce of more than 40.
Jack, who comes from a family of fruit and vegetable traders, said that the late spring, early summer period would be the most challenging yet. While some of the businesses down the
supply chain have managed to hold out, including through home deliveries, the continued closure of schools, office canteens and hospitality businesses will bite hard.
“We are owed money from hard-hit businesses and we don’t know if we will get paid. We have managed to remain robust, but I’m spending a lot of time looking for every bit of support that is out there, because this coming period will be very challenging.”
More information: https://fountainfreshdelivery.co.uk/
