Businesses granted support

Ladies Only Gym owner Michelle Matthews is developing her brand and marketing strategy thanks to the grant.

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Businesses across the borough face the future with confidence thanks to £65,000 of grants.

The grants, from Rochdale Borough Council, have been given to more than 35 companies ranging from engineering and manufacturing businesses to training and retail.

The grants have been supplied through the Council’s Business Support budget.

Companies were asked to develop an action plan outlining what the money would be used for and how it would benefit their business. Once the plan had been agreed with a recognised business adviser, such as Business Link or Groundwork Oldham and Rochdale, they could submit their application.

The average grant awarded was £2,000 and one of the beneficiaries was the Ladies Only Gym on St Mary’s Gate in Rochdale.

Owner Michelle Matthews said: “I’m using half the grant to develop a more structured marketing strategy and brand personality. The other half will develop our website in line with the personality traits we have chosen in our marketing materials. It has really benefited me personally to reflect on what I wanted to achieve when I started the business and how to organise my resources to plan forward.”

A second business to benefit was GJD Manufacturing on Whittle Lane in Heywood. They manufacture a range of outdoor electronic security detectors, CCTV and security light controllers. They applied for a grant to research and develop new products, creating two jobs, to showcase at a trade show in Birmingham in May.

Mark Tibbenham, Managing Director of the company, said: “Getting this grant was fantastic. It means that we could commit to designing and making the prototype to enable us to prove and demonstrate a potentially ground-breaking rapid deployment surveillance product.”

Councillor Peter Williams, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Corporate Management and Economic Regeneration, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to support so many businesses across the borough.

“Businesses are operating in a really challenging environment at the moment and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier in the near future so it’s vital that we help them as much as possible.”