MORE than 100 small businesses across Wiltshire have benefited from grants for specialist advice to help their enterprises grow.

The Specialist Business Advice grant from The Enterprise Network (TEN) Swindon and Wiltshire was funded through the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Rural Growth Network.

The total grant pot of £150,000 has now been spent, with 112 grants of between £500 and £1,500 awarded to a wide range of small businesses across Wiltshire.

The most popular requests were for specialist support in web development, brand enhancement and business development/sales support.

Chris Simpson from Wiltshire Business Support Service, which managed the SBA grant on behalf of The Enterprise Network, said: “The TEN Specialist Business Advice grant proved the perfect way to help small businesses bring forward that small, but vital, project that they might have been putting off.”

One of the grant recipients, Susanne Cooke, is looking forward to expanding her Salisbury-based national dog walking, pet sitting and pet boarding business after a £1,500 SBA grant helped pay for drawing up a vital new franchise agreement. Susanne was the Salisbury franchisee for Paw Pals (UK) Ltd before buying out the company in 2012, and has since focused on finding the right people to grow the business across the UK.

She now has 18 Paw Pals franchisees from Newcastle to Eastbourne, and is looking to recruit more.

Earlier this year, Susanne needed a new franchise agreement – the bedrock of her business – but found the cost of paying for specialist help a real challenge.

Then, through Wessex Chambers, her husband heard about The Enterprise Network Specialist Business Advice grant for businesses in Wiltshire and Swindon.

“The £1,500 grant was fantastic – it went towards the costs of the solicitor’s fees to draw up the new agreement.

“It was a weight off my mind,” said Susanne.

“As a franchise business grows, there are more challenges so I needed a watertight agreement to ensure there was consistent quality across the brand.

“With the confidence of having a good franchise agreement in place, I’m now planning to take on some part-time help to build the business.

“We offer tailor-made care for people’s pets, following their, and their pets’, usual routine in their own home, minimising stress and anxiety that can sometimes occur when they are apart.”

For more information about The Enterprise Network, contact Kate Forrest, The Enterprise Network Manager, 01249 706549/0776 0990716 theenterprisenetwork.co.uk.