Entering and winning business awards are a great way to get your business noticed! Awards offer PR and marketing opportunities and are a positive message to share with new and existing customers. 

Has your business won a regional or national award, where you have been recognised by your peers and your business sector as being one of the best? Why not let us know and we can share this with the wider business community of Harborough District. Help us promote the fact that Harborough District has some amazing and successful businesses, which we should all be proud of. Please send details to: business@harborough.gov.uk 

There is still time to enter the Harborough District Business Awards 2022!

There are ten categories open to businesses across the Harborough District:

• Hair and Beauty Business
• Community Award
• Food and Drink Business
• Start Up Business
• Small Business
• Green Award 
• Service Industry Business
• Health and Wellbeing Business
• Business of the Year
• Retailer of the Year 

You can enter up to three categories. Entries will close on Tuesday 30 November 2021.


The Harborough District Business Awards evening ceremony will be held at the Three Swans Hotel on Friday 11th March 2022. The awards are organised by Polka Dot Event Management. 

Could you benefit from the support of a business expert to help drive your business forward and maximise your recovery from the pandemic?

The Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) are seeking expressions of interest from small to medium sized businesses to benefit from their new business pilot - Transform, which will be fully funded by the LLEP.

Successful businesses will be matched with an experienced business mentor with the expertise to assist you with identifying quick and longer term wins to enable the future growth of your business.

Working with you and your team, the mentor will help your business to thrive as we recover from these unprecedented times, by both building on lessons learnt and exploring innovative new solutions appropriate to you.

Spaces are limited to just 20 organisations on a first come first served basis. 

For more information and to express an interest in participating, please contact:
Gary Dimmock - g.dimmock@lboro.ac.uk

There is still time to express your interest for a pioneering green initiative. The Business Gateway is looking for 100 companies with a commitment to carbon reduction, from all sectors across Leicester and Leicestershire, to take part in the Zellar pilot, which will be free of charge for 12 months.

The world's first sustainability as a service platform, called Zellar, enables a business to identify its carbon impact and then provides a bespoke plan to reduce it, including:

• Advice on how to offset emissions
• How to find sustainable energy providers
• How to change behaviour among employees
• Businesses in the same sectors can compare against peers
• Share good practice with other businesses

Farmers, foresters and growers from across England can now apply for a new grant to buy new equipment and infrastructure to help to improve efficiency and help us build back greener. This could include solar powered electric fences, water treatment systems that use ultraviolet light rather than chemicals and cameras for monitoring livestock.

The Farming Investment Fund (FIF) is made up of 2 separate funds:

Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (for grants between £2,000 and £25,000)
This fund provides grants towards the cost of equipment and technology to improve the productivity of farms in a sustainable way.

The Round 1 application period is open now and will close on 7 January 2022.

Farming Transformation Fund (for grants between £35,000 and £500,000)
This fund provides grants towards large capital items to help businesses improve productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability. They are:

• Water Management
• Improving Farm Productivity
• Adding Value

If you started your business in or after 2018 and your trading was interrupted due to Covid-19 and lockdowns, we can help you get back on track. This free support has been specifically designed to help early stage businesses like yours to restart and grow.

There's a range of support to match the needs of your business and individual availability. The first step is to talk to a Business Gateway Adviser who will discuss which package is best for you. Your adviser will give you an impartial view based on what you tell them about your current situation and future ambitions.

There is also a grant fund available to help those businesses. 

To express your interest, please email business@harborough.gov.uk

ARG Scheme 1 – Go Digital – The scheme supports digital technology solutions which improve business performance and encourage wider, online access to customers, (e.g., digital marketing, software & hardware, mobile apps, digital training/ courses, digital signage, cyber security, etc.) Deadline: Wednesday 2 March 2022

ARG Scheme 2 – Go Green – The scheme helps businesses to reduce their carbon footprints, increase energy efficiency and reduce fixed costs, (e.g., adopting green transport solutions, including Bikes and E-bikes, using E-Vehicles / delivery vans, introducing LED lighting, solar panels, insulation, and heating pumps etc.). Deadline: Wednesday 2 March 2022. 

ARG Scheme 3 – Innovation – The scheme encourages the adoption of sustainable and innovative solutions, by reviewing product or service delivery to improve operations or service provision, (e.g., innovation to reduce of packaging, support for business diversification, moving to more local supply chains, developing solutions to support faster turnaround on products or services etc.). Deadline: Wednesday 2 March 2022

Commercial Driving Licence Support Scheme -The scheme aims to support individuals from the Harborough District who were either on furlough or are on low income and wish to complete the relevant HGV/LGV training courses to benefit from the increased demand for drivers in the logistics sector. The fund will support the HGV/LGV licence cost between £1000 and £1500 and is open for individuals and businesses.

For more details on the above grants, please contact our Grants & Funding Officer Jaswinder Powar on mobile: 07874 876579 or email j.powar@harborough.gov.uk

Shop Front Improvement Grant
Town centre shop fronts are set for a makeover, boosting the appeal and character of primary shopping areas and helping attract more customers.

Owners and landlords of shops or business tenants from across the district are invited to apply for a grant to improve their frontage.

Find out more about the Shop Front Improvement Grant here.  

Small Business Saturday is coming up on Saturday 4 December 2021. 

Small Business Saturday UK is a grassroots, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to 'shop local' and support small businesses in their communities.

You can get involved by registering for free on the 'Small Business Finder' and highlighting your small business on social media!