Tees Valley Business Compass

WHAT WAS THE SERViCE?

Tees Valley Business Compass was a local Growth Hub for the Teesside area, providing support and funding for ambitious companies looking to grow. Supporting thousands of local businesses, using European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) secured by Tees Valley Combined Authority, it helped to provide funding opportunities to secure grants and supplement growth.

WHAT DiD UMi DO?

We managed the Tees Valley Business Compass Programme since its January 2016 launch and significantly contributed to its development and evolution. The programme was split into 4 funding schemes: Business Growth Fund, Energy & Low Carbon Fund, Broadband Vouchers and Innovation Vouchers. UMi carried out all administrative processes via our own custom online portal. This involved an initial assessment of detailed applications, from which we then made funding decisions. UMi also rapidly mobilised an emergency response fund following the closure of the SSI Steelworks in 2015.

WHAT WAS THE RESULT?

Since 2016, we committed over £8m of funds to 635 companies. We supported grantees through management of claims via an online portal and processed almost 2,000 individual claims defraying £7.6m of grant funding. Our emergency response fund defrayed more than £16m of emergency funding at a critical time. The success of these schemes led UMi to secure a further £12.1m Business Growth grant programme currently being delivered on behalf of TVCA under their newly named Growth Hub, Tees Valley Business.