Central Bedfordshire Council, through its allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the Rural England Prosperity Fund , launched in November 2023 new business support programmes. Central Bedfordshire based businesses can access a suite of fully funded support to help businesses focus on resilience, innovation, exporting and enabling growth delivered through our 4 business support partners;
- Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce: Export support
- Cranfield University: Business De-carbonisation
- Cranfield University: Business Growth
- University of Bedfordshire: Create new or improved products or service/productivity
- Wenta: Entrepreneurship & Start Up
To learn more about these projects, including eligibility criteria, please visit our Be Central website.
All businesses will need to complete an online Expression of Interest (EOI) form with the chosen business support intervention – businesses are eligible to apply for more than one intervention, subject to availability but will need to complete a separate EOI for each.
In addition, once a business has accessed 12 hours of business support, they can apply for a related capital grant.
We will continue to promote this support through our Let’s Talk Business Newsletter. If you’ve not already signed up, then please do as this will provide you with regular bulletins/alerts on the latest news, events and funding across Central Bedfordshire.