The creation of new jobs in Dundee and Angus could be a step closer with more than a dozen applications to the Michelin Development loan scheme for small and medium-sized companies.
“The clarion call so far has been answered and Dundee and Angus is again showing itself to be a forward-thinking business centre full of ideas, innovation and ambition.”
Following the launch of the Dundee and Angus Challenge in February, Michelin Development held a Michelin Development Challenge breakfast event at the Michelin Athletic club, attended by over 70 members of the Dundee business community including accountants, solicitors, business owners and entrepreneurs.
A number of new prospects emerged from the exercise, and they feature among the expressions of interest processed so far.
Michelin Development provides unsecured business loans at Bank of England base rate to small to medium-sized companies trading in the four UK areas North Staffordshire, East Lancashire, Dundee and Ballymena where Michelin has or has had an operations base.
Since its inception, Michelin Development has loaned almost £4m to over 140 companies in the engineering, IT, construction and manufacturing and service sectors. It also offers support and business advice.
The fund is a cornerstone of Michelin Tyre Plc’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme, which aims to create long-term, quality, sustainable jobs which boost the local and regional economies.
The organisation says its call to the Dundee and Angus area to become more entrepreneurial has received an excellent response, and it hopes to award its first loan for 2011 in the near future.
Michelin Development launched the Dundee and Angus Challenge in February, after statistics from Michelin Development Ltd the business development arm of Michelin Tyre Plc showed the Dundee and Angus region to be the lowest-ranking of the four regions where the fund is available.
Having only two years ago accounted for 33% of all the jobs created through investment from the Michelin Development fund, Dundee and Angus found itself in decline with only two loans approved and 14 jobs created in 2010.
By this month, however, Michelin Development received more than double the number of expressions of interest the first stage of companies applying for a loan-from companies than in the whole of 2010.
It says the scheme is flourishing again with applications coming in from a diverse range of sectors including the video gaming industry, engineering, publishing and logistics.
This shows that budding entrepreneurs and existing businesses in Dundee and Angus have picked up the entrepreneurial gauntlet thrown down by Michelin Development and run with it, as Michelin Development’s loans committee is confident of signing off the first new loan of 2011 in the next couple of months.
Graham Douglas, Michelin Development Dundee’s business development manager, said, “We issued the challenge with a view to sparking a Dundee and Angus renaissance, getting entrepreneurs and existing businesses in the region to grasp the business nettle and re-establish the area as one of the best-performing regions.
Continued…