The winners of the Stockport Sustainable Business Challenge who will share a £50,000 funding pot have been announced by the initiative’s leader, Stockport Economic Alliance, supported by the Business Growth Hub and funded by Stockport Council.
The Sustainable Business Challenge was launched in April this year and invited local companies to compete for between £3,000 and £10,000 of match funding towards projects aimed at improving resource efficiency and competiveness.
The contest attracted a diverse range of ideas, but seven projects were ultimately selected by the judges to receive funding. Between them the projects have identified thousands of pounds of annual cost savings and significant carbon reductions.
The successful projects range from Creative Apparel who will be investing in a more efficient automated screen cleaning machine; to Disability Stockport who will be installing LED lighting. Other winners include Luteaim Limited, Spring and Co, Cheshire Specialist Engineering Limited, Newby Packaging Limited and Castrads Limited.
Work on implementing many of the projects has already begun, meaning that the companies will soon be able to reap the benefits of this work.
As well as the funding, the winning companies will have access to fully-funded business support and advice from specialist Business Growth Hub advisors who are available to work with them and ensure the full benefits of the projects are realised as well as identify other environmental improvements they can make.
Wayne Jones, (pictured left)
Wayne Jones, Chair of Stockport Economic Alliance and Senior Vice President – Business Unit After Sales at MAN Diesel & Turbo commented that:
“It was a great honour to Chair the judging panel reviewing such interesting business proposals that ultimately reduce operational costs. The fact that we can reduce our expenditure and positively affect the environment is something every business should explore.”
Councillor Patrick McAuley, Executive Member for Thriving Economy at Stockport Council said:
“I would like to congratulate all of the Stockport Sustainable Business Challenge winners on their success. The ideas they identified have the potential to deliver significant environmental benefits, which will help improve the local environment for all residents. The winning projects will reduce costs for each of the companies which will help as they plan for future growth.”
Richard Jeffery, Director of Business Growth Hub, said:
“The Stockport Sustainable Business Challenge is a great example of how we can work with Local Authorities to boost business growth in Greater Manchester and support innovative ideas. Improving efficiency is critical to success for any business and the successful companies will be able to reap the rewards of both a healthier bottom line and reduced environmental impact.”
Whilst the Stockport Sustainable Business Challenge has now closed for applications, the Business Growth Hub offers tailored resource efficiency support to Greater Manchester SMEs through its specialist Green Growth service. Companies can find out more by visiting www.businessgrowthhub.com
To find out more about the Stockport Sustainable Business Challenge visit www.stockport.gov.uk/sustainablebusinesschallenge