Businesses interested in growing their operations in the D2N2 area of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire heard all about a new fund set up to help midlands businesses, at a breakfast event held earlier today, which featured speakers from a number of different businesses and organisations, including the Chair of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
The Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) is a Midlands-wide fund to eliminate regional imbalances in business funding, and enable small and medium-sized (SME) companies to finance expansion ambitions. In August (2017), £120million (of debt finance) for SMEs – to help fund growth plans – was released from the MEIF’s total fund of £250million.
Following the formal launch of the MEIF at the end of February this year (2018), a series of briefing events across the Midlands have been held for businesses in each LEP area. Today’s event took place at Derby College’s Roundhouse building and was hosted by the British Business Bank and the D2N2 LEP, to raise awareness of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund.
The MEIF’s £250m in resources is made up of Government, British Business Bank and European Investment Bank (EIB) funding; and European Union funding drawn from European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) money previously allocated to LEPs. Up to £78.5m in MEIF funds will come from the Midlands LEPs, including £11.75m from D2N2.
Speakers at today’s event included:
- Ken Cooper, Managing Director of Venture Solutions at the British Business Bank
- Peter Richardson (pictured), Chair of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership
- James Livingston, Partner at Foresight Group
- Jonathan Lowe, Investment Director at Maven Capital Partners
and
- Neil Millington, Loan Fund Manager at Enterprise Loans East Midlands
D2N2 is the LEP for the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire area and works with its areas businesses, local authorities, skills and training providers and community and voluntary organisations to grow its areas economy, with the aim of creating 55,000 new jobs in ten years (2013-2023).
The MEIF is a joint initiative by the British Business Bank; the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; and ten Midlands Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), including the D2N2 LEP.
For further information on the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, visit its website at http://meif.co.uk/
For more information on the Midlands Engine generally, visit http://www.d2n2lep.org/growth/midlands-engine
For More Information on the above release, please contact: | ||||
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Sean Kirby D2N2 Communications Manager 01159 578749 |  | Sam Burbage D2N2 Social Media and Marketing Officer 01159 578254 | ||
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