There is financial help for Highland businesses looking to grow
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Are you looking to expand your business? Is there a new project you are looking to launch or are you needing new equipment? Have you run out of funding options?
Well, there are two organisations that can help you and they have joined forces to ensure that the Highlands continues to grow its entrepreneurial spirit.
Business Loan Scotland (BLS) and Highland Opportunities Investments Limited (HOIL) want to help businesses succeed, and together are able to provide loans for a variety of projects and start-ups.
Andrew Dickson, fund manager at BSL said: “We want to help businesses start up and grow, increase the number of people employed and look beyond their local and regional economies for new sales and market opportunities.
BLS is funded by the Scottish Government, and it can provide loans from £25K to £250K to new and growing SMEs.
HOIL has its own separate fund, and businesses can be supported by either BLS or HOIL or can receive joint funding from both.
Andrew said: “We want to provide access to finance that people wouldn’t be able to get from other sources. They may have exhausted their other options, but have a project that is commercially viable and they can’t raise the funding. We are trying to fill that gap.
“We usually provide loans matched with funding from the bank or the directors and in certain circumstances can support businesses with up to100 per cent of the funding package.
BLS do not offer advice, but they do provide the funding, and must be approached by the business itself, or a financial advisor.
Andrew concluded: “This is a collaborative effort, and we want people who run businesses in the Highlands to know that there are options out there for them.
“We are not a bank, we are more of an economic development agency and we want to see people do well, start-up new projects and to grow.”
