16 October 2014
A business in Milton Keynes which has received a grant worth £2,700 says it has made an ‘invaluable contribution to the business that will ultimately drive sales within the company’.
The comment comes from Louise Owen, one of the founders of BOBCat Digital, a new digital and large format print business based at Mount Farm in Bletchley. Louise and her two business partners Martin Bateman and Rob Blackburn were successful in winning a grant from business support project Velocity, which is being used to invest in state-of-the-art production equipment and upgrade the company’s website.
Louise said: “We started trading at the beginning of the year and the past eight months have been a steep learning curve. Our immediate priority was to start getting orders through the door through marketing, actively networking and targeting all of our historical contacts. Thankfully this paid off quickly; work was increasing and our client portfolio was expanding.”
“After a strong start to trading the upshot was that we needed additional funds to take the business forward. We had become aware of Velocity by going to a number of networking events and if Velocity was able to help us we thought it was worth investigating, which is what we did.”
“The process was straightforward and we received direct help from Emmanuelle Clément, a dedicated Business Adviser for Milton Keynes. I am delighted that we have been awarded this grant, which has helped us purchase a new guillotine and develop our website, which will help us achieve our sales targets.”
“I would urge anyone who needs to invest in their company to contact Velocity to find out how they can help.”
Since the launch of Velocity in Milton Keynes in May, over 60 businesses across the city have been supported by the project, and Business Advisers are encouraging more companies to come forward to see how Velocity could help them.
Emmanuelle Clément is Velocity’s Business Adviser for Milton Keynes and supported BOBcat through the grant application process. She said: “BOBcat is a great example of the type of business that Velocity can help. BOBcat had identified the need to invest in certain areas of the business and through one-to-one support and guidance we helped them work out exactly what it was they needed, and to contribute to the investment with a grant.
“I am actively looking for more businesses in Milton Keynes that would benefit from a grant. We are here to help so contact us today and find out how we could support you in taking your business forward.”
Grants of up to £10,000 are available as well as free business workshops worth £400 each, access to a Business Adviser and support via the website and telephone helpdesk.
