Starting Out

Do you want to start a business in Hyndburn? Starting and running a new business is exciting and challenging, but it can also be a stressful and isolating experience. We can show you how to research and write an effective business plan - an essential blueprint to test out your ideas and raise necessary finance. Our qualified business advisors are specially trained to deal with the issues that you will face in starting and managing a new business. To help you through this crucial planning stage we offer a number of services.

Seminars and workshops

We can help by showing you how to research and write a business plan. It is a process that requires you to think your ideas through and put them down on paper in a form that will attract the serious consideration of lenders or financiers. Our Business Briefings will give you a taster of what is involved; they are short introductory seminars that set out the work that needs to be done to start a business. They are held regularly so look on our workshops and seminars page for the next date and how to book. Business Planning Workshops might be your next step. Every month we run an intensive six-day course on business planning that covers how to research a business idea, what information you should include in a business plan, how to research the market and how to prepare cash flows.

Business advice clinics

If you have already started a business plan on your own we can help you in another way by providing one-to-one business advice from a qualified business adviser who is able to steer them through the twists and turns of starting a business. Our professional business advisers are specially trained to deal with the issues that confront new and developing businesses. This service is FREE and confidential.

Finance for business start-ups

If you can show us a viable business plan we can help you find finance to launch your business. We can provide some qualifying businesses with loans and in some cases grants to start, subject to approval (these are under review as of March 2005).

Specialist advice to Creative Industries

Creative Industries in the UK are recognised as being the fastest growing sector and major contributor to the national economy. Part of our mission is to enable the local Cultural Industries sector to grow and prosper by acting as a signpost promoting the region's creative talent and attract outside interest. Through its specialist support agency, ELCID (East Lancashire Cultural Industries Development), the Trust offers a unique programme of business advisery and support services targeted to meet the specific needs of new and existing creative industries. The services include specialist advice, guidance and information on topics such as business improvement, product development, promotion, marketing, funding opportunities, and a Creative Directory of local talent illustrating their work to potential purchasers.