Business Grants

Selective Finance for Investment

Small and medium sized Ashford businesses are eligible for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s business grant scheme to be delivered by SEEDA (South East England Development Agency) in the South East region. This could help Ashford companies looking for financial assistance to help fund expansion plans.

Under the Selective Finance for Investment in England (SFIE) grant scheme small companies could be eligible for grants of up to £2.5m and medium-sized companies could qualify for up to £1.25m - rather than the previous limit under this scheme of £100,000.

All grants are awarded on a discretionary basis and the level of potential assistance depends upon company size, location, eligible project expenditure, number of skilled jobs created or safeguaraded and project quality. Grants of up to 15% of project costs are available for small-sized companies and up to 7.5% for medium companies.

Grants under the new SFIE scheme are part of the published 2007-2013 assisted areas map. The designated area of the whole of the borough of Ashford is eligible for Tier 3 grants levels.

Grants are available to growing businesses investing in capital equipment for the expansion and modernisation of facilities to increase productivity and safeguard or create skilled jobs.

South East Grant Advisory Service (Se-gas) offers free grant advice and assistance to companies looking to relocate to, or expand in Kent and Medway. Se-gas' funding is managed by Locate in Kent.

Download the Business Grants Flyer 192Kb PDF

For more information on SFIE grant assistance from Se-gas please contact Locate in Kent on 01732 520700 or email the team.