Invest in West Lothian - November Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the November edition of the Invest in West Lothian newsletter! In our newsletter, we will be sharing the latest news stories, funding opportunities, and events for businesses in West Lothian.
Here at Invest in West Lothian, we are committed to helping businesses in West Lothian grow by providing confidential and impartial advice, highlighting funding opportunities, and sharing helpful resources. We can help new and established businesses that are currently based in West Lothian, or are looking to relocate to the area. You can learn more about the support we offer by visiting www.investinwestlothian.com .
Celebrating Good News Stories in West Lothian
Funding Support Helps Social Enterprise S.M.I.L.E Counselling Boost Its Digital Capabilities to Win New Business
Livingston-based social enterprise S.M.I.L.E Counselling delivers bespoke counselling and training services for West Lothian residents aged 11-24. They recently reached out for support when they encountered an increasingly common requirement whilst bidding for a new contract – they had to demonstrate their accreditation to Cyber Essentials Plus. At the time, they did not have this.
Our advisers recommended that they apply for our Cyber Security Grant, which provides funding to help local businesses achieve their Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certification. They also recommended applying for our Digital Development Grant, which is part-funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, to implement any necessary digital updates identified.
After successfully applying for this funding, S.M.I.L.E Counselling was able to invest in digital improvements and gain their Cyber Essentials Plus certification, which helped them secure future contracts and implement a long-term financial sustainability model.
You can read the full story here.
Funding for Businesses in West Lothian
The Invest in West Lothian team have extensive experience of preparing funding packages for local businesses of all sizes. Each month, we will highlight a new funding opportunity that is currently available to eligible businesses in the area.
Digital Development Grant
The Digital Development Grant is part funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is aimed at enhancing the digital capabilities of Scottish businesses.
With this exciting grant, eligible West Lothian businesses that are VAT registered can receive funding of up to £7,500 (against a total project cost of £15,000), and eligible businesses that are not VAT registered can receive funding of up to £1,000 (against a total project spend of £2,000).
The purpose of the Digital Development Grant includes helping businesses with reducing (non-staff) operational costs, improving market share, increasing revenue, improving cyber security, and moving the business online. The funding can be used towards:
- Enhancing the digital skills of your workforce
- Purchasing software and IT, or digital hardware
- Improving IT infrastructure
- Building an E-commerce website
- Developing an app
You can learn more about the Digital Development Grant here. Please note that any projects funded must be completed by the end of February 2025.
Upcoming Events
We are delighted to be hosting the following free events in November:
New Funding Webinar 2024
Join us for our New Funding Webinar 2024 to learn more about exciting funding opportunities that are currently available to help West Lothian businesses grow. This includes funding to support your business with recruitment, training and upskilling, and low carbon. This is taking place on Thursday, the 14th of November, from 9:30am – 10:30am.
Improve Your Business Marketing with Artificial Intelligence (AI)
This practical workshop will examine how Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) can help transform the creation of written and visual content for your organisation’s digital marketing and wider day to day business activities. This is taking place on Tuesday, the 19th of November, from 10:00am – 3:30pm at the Scottish Procurement Alliance Partnership Hub in Livingston.
Social Media for Business Masterclass
Our one-day Social Media for Business Masterclass constantly evolves to take into account the fast-moving nature of social media and features bang up to date case studies and examples. The webinar is suitable for everyone from a beginner (or even a sceptic), to social media and marketing professionals. This full day session aims to ensure you remain ‘business focused’ with your own usage of social media. This is taking place on Friday, the 22nd of November, from 10:00am – 3:30pm.
To learn more and book your free space at any of our events, please click here.