About the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)

One of the three priorities of the UKSPF is 'Supporting Local Business' and we have chosen this aspect of the Investment Plan to focus on:

• strengthening local entrepreneurial ecosystems and supporting businesses at all stages of their development to start, sustain, grow and innovate, including through local networks

Our ambition is to support businesses from start-up through to high-growth. We will support business owners and potential entrepreneurs from all backgrounds across Buckinghamshire.

We awarded £1.3m of funding in December 2023 for organisations to deliver support to businesses across Buckinghamshire focussed on four priority themes:

• business start-up and entrepreneurship
• business growth and productivity
• business sustainability and net-zero
• rural business support

The programmes currently running are:

The programme is delivered by Enterprise Nation in partnership with LaunchIt.

Budding entrepreneurs can access support through the Enterprise Nation platform to access advice and guidance on starting and running their business.

A wealth of support is available for businesses to start, run and grow their business, or bring an idea to life. To register and find out more about the free support and bootcamps visit the Startup Buckinghamshire portal.

The Growth Programme from Buckinghamshire Business First (BBF) supports business owners to develop their business and team while helping them resolve challenges.

View the BBF website to access free support.

Retail Revival are offering free support to independent businesses in high streets across Buckinghamshire, including:

• 1-2-1 action planning
• webinars and resources
• events
• 1-2-1 support
• business improvement grants of up to £1,000 for eligible businesses

The nature of the support has been directly informed through a programme of engagement with businesses across several town and village centres.

View the support programme portal.

Maybe* are offering independent high street businesses support with digital marketing. Through this project, independent high street businesses can:

• learn about effective social media and leveraging Google My Business
• access 1-on-1 expert support
• apply for vouchers of £500 to kickstart their digital advertising

Sign up to the Maybe* project.

This new programme from Buckinghamshire Business First is designed to support businesses in Buckinghamshire on their journey to Net Zero:

• reduce energy bills and waste
• improve energy security and efficiency
• discover your carbon footprint
• get support from a team of experts
• improve your green marketing and credentials
• join Net Zero workshops and surgeries

Start your journey to net zero

The Rural Business Advice Service is provided by Buckinghamshire Business First and supports rural businesses to access new funding. Activities delivered through the programme include:

• Rural Business networking and awareness raising
• stimulating demand for the Rural Business Grants
• identifying and promoting low carbon funding opportunities for rural businesses
• supporting development of farm businesses to be eligible for future funding

Join the rural network

View the support programmes that have now ended:

The Energy Resilience Programme was delivered by Buckinghamshire Business First to help businesses who may be struggling with rising energy costs and management.

It supported them to minimise energy costs through a one-to-one intervention with a Low Carbon adviser.

Businesses involved in the project received:

• a review of their current energy suppliers
• an assessment of their energy usage allowing for a carbon footprint audit
• a bespoke energy resilience report providing practical advice
• continued access to their organisation’s energy reports (for 12 months), so they can continue to assess, review, and take action

As well as reducing carbon emissions the project helped businesses to become more resilient, mitigating against the impact of the energy crisis.