Business grants for young people aged between 18-30.

We are working in partnership with SWEF to provide business grants of up to £2,000 to young entrepreneurs in Cheshire and Warrington, aged between 18-30.  These grants can be used on costs to support a newly formed business, including equipment, training, specific marketing costs, and product development.

As part of the programme SWEF provides the opportunity to join a network of peers who are also in the early stage of starting their business to share ideas, experiences and learn.

You can apply if you:

• Are aged 18 to 30.
• Live in Cheshire or Warrington.
• Are a sole trader/limited company which has been trading for less than 2 years. Applications solely for “business ideas” will not be considered. You must be able to give evidence of significant steps taken to get your business off the ground.
• Can demonstrate a financial need for the grant.
• Have a business bank account.
• Have a clear plan for how you will spend any awards, with quotes provided.

For a full list of the Eligibility Criteria for the SWEF Enterprise fund, please click here.

What can businesses apply for?

Grants must be used for costs directly related to your business and must be spent within one month of you receiving the funds.

Applications for start-up businesses at the pre-revenue stage may only initially be eligible for smaller grant amounts (i.e. up to £500), to help prove the business concept and start revenue generation. If you are awarded a smaller amount, and your initial grant is successful, you may be eligible to apply again for the remainder of the costs (i.e. up to £2,000 total across both grants.).

Eligible costs include:

• Equipment costs.
• Materials/stock for a new product line/service
• Prototypes
• Website/booking system build
• Training
• Product development

These grants cannot be used for:

• Salaries 
• Debt repayment
• Rent and utilities
• Materials/Stock for an existing product line/service
• Ongoing software subscriptions
• Developent costs for new apps or digital software
• New computers, tablets and phones. 

On a match funded basis, we can consider applications for refurbished computers / tablets / phones; However, in order for this to be considered you will need to explain why the item will transform your business, and provide a link to the refurbished item with an explanation of why you need this piece of specific technology.

We particularly welcome applications from groups that are often underrepresented in business ownership, including people on low incomes, women, migrants, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and people with few or no formal qualifications.

Timeline

SWEF Business Grants are open for applications on a rolling basis. Once you have submitted your application, we aim to make a final decision on your application within six weeks. To apply, please click here.

Accessibility

At Cheshire Community Foundation, we believe that everyone should be able to access our funding opportunities fairly. We recognise that some people may experience barriers when applying to us. If you need any additional support applying for any of our grant programmes, for whatever reason, please contact us at grants@cheshirecommunityfoundation.org.uk, or by calling 01606 330607. A member of our team will be happy to support you on your application journey, or to find alternative ways (such as paper, video, verbal, online, face-to-face or other methods) for you to get us the information we need to assess your application.

How to Apply

We are happy to talk to applicants about their application before they apply. Just email us (grants@cheshirecommunityfoundation.org.uk) and one of the Grants Team will arrange a time for a phone chat.

Once you have read this page, you can apply via the link below.  When you submit you will be offered an opportunity to save the form, in order to do so you will need to have a Microsoft account or you will need to create one (for free).