February 26, 2014 3.48 pm This story is over 121 months old

New project to help small firms trade more locally

Local trade: New project aims to help small and medium businesses in Lincoln, Boston and East Lindsey to buy and supply more locally.
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

A new project will encourage small and medium businesses in Lincoln, Boston and East Lindsey to buy and supply more products and services locally.

Supply Lincolnshire is a County Council business support programme which received £251,000 of European funding. It will be run alongside Procurement Lincolnshire and the Greater Lincolnshire LEP (GLLEP).

The project will encourage businesses in Lincoln, East Lindsey and Boston to buy and trade locally, as well as helping them find opportunities to supply the county’s largest private and public sector businesses.

The support will be provided by Pera Consulting (UK) Ltd.

A special session will be held in Lincoln at The Showroom as part Procurement Lincolnshire’s free Meet the Buyer event on March 25 for businesses to learn how they can benefit.

County Councillor and GLLEP board member Colin Davie said: “We want local businesses to thrive. And a good way to do that is by helping them find the opportunities that are right there on their doorstep.

“We also want to encourage them to support one another by buying locally where possible.

“We’ll provide a combination of one-to-one support and workshops, through which SMEs will develop more cost-effective purchasing practices, as well as making sure they have the right approach for winning contracts from the county’s biggest organisations.”

Supply Lincolnshire is a £400,000 programme that runs from November 2013 until September 2015 and will provide support to businesses located within the Priority Axis 2 areas of Lincolnshire.

For further information on the project, businesses should contact Supply Lincolnshire’s project manager, Sara Kendall on 01522 550640 or [email protected].