The South East Sustainability Loan Fund, part of the South East England Competitiveness Programme 2007-13 promotes sustainable production and consumption and has recently been awarded to South East Sustainability Limited.

The Fund will provide matching funding (amount and terms/conditions) to existing sources of publicly funded loan (not grant) finance for businesses in the South East, being:

(i) Loan funds comprised within the SEEDA sponsored South East Funding Escalator, managed by Finance South East Limited,

(ii) Other publicly funded loan schemes for SMEs in the South East.

The Fund will offer loans of between £20,000 and £200,000 to ‘qualifying enterprises’ and will deliver additional growth finance in order to accelerate the development and improve the competitiveness of micro, small and medium sized businesses in the South East that themselves are delivering activities that help to reduce the region’s carbon ecological footprint. The Fund will support companies that will be:

(a)    Operating in new and emerging ecologically driven market sectors;

(b)   Delivering products or technologies that will contribute to a reduction in the region’s ecological footprint; or

(c)    Delivering innovation in other business sectors that result in more resource efficient business practices.

By accelerating the development of SMEs, the loans from the Fund will enable the businesses funded to develop and innovate in the long-term as well as enhancing their ability to access further growth capital at a later date moving the business along the funding escalator.

Find out more details through your Portfolio Director.