In less than four years the Council's Kickstart enterprise support team has helped 3,500 local people to launch more than 1,100 small businesses across the District.

Almost half of them have been set up in communities where people need the greatest support to overcome barriers which can stop them getting a job or starting their own business.

When it was launched in April 2006 the Kickstart programme, now widely acknowledged as one of the best of its kind in the country, pledged to support the launch of 1,000 new business ventures over five years.

In addition, Kickstart has safeguarded 1,200 existing jobs by providing intensive support to over 3,000 established businesses. Help includes free professional services, skills training and business growth guidance.

Around four out of ten new businesses have been started by and are run by women, to whom Kickstart provides confidence-boosting advice and intensive support.

The successful programme is one of 20 funded through the Government-backed, £300m Local Enterprise Growth Initiative.

Working with colleagues in the Council's Business Growth programme and Invest in Bradford, which supports businesses moving into or re-locating within the District, almost £98m of private investment has been generated or levered, along with £6.4m of public sector investment.

"During the recession we have used Kickstart and other initiatives to deliver a bold Council campaign to help new and established local businesses to survive and get ready for the economic upturn," says Councillor Adrian Naylor, Executive Member for Regeneration and Economy.

"Through the Kickstart programme we are helping local businesses to sustain existing jobs as well as create new jobs. We are also encouraging local companies to bid for Council contracts and aim to pay local suppliers' invoices within ten working days.
"Bradford has the fastest-growing working-age population in the Yorkshire region; we need to create thousands of new jobs to meet the needs of our people over the next ten years."

A Case Study

One of the 1,100 new businesses Kickstart has supported is Great Northern Fisheries, a traditional chip shop and cafe in Thornton village.

William Lavelle and Peter Stafford, who both live in the village, had been unemployed for a long time when the Jobcentre put them in touch with Kickstart to discuss their idea of opening the shop.

Launching the business involved financial risk but this was shared by family members who also invested.

During their first six months' trading they were allowed to offset the risk by using a test trading scheme run by Kickstart and JobcentrePlus.

This enables unemployed people to start and run a business while claiming a Kickstart allowance instead of unemployment benefit.

They were also advised by Raihanna Ismail, a Kickstart business counsellor with ATL Enterprise, Bradford and received marketing support through Kickstart.

Great Northern Fisheries has proved so successful that William have gone from being unemployed to be employers, recruiting two part time assistants.

"We've had loads of support from Kickstart and would recommend anyone thinking of starting a business to contact them," says William.

• For a friendly chat about your business idea, contact Kickstart on free phone (0800) 953-9503.

Pictured: New business starters William (left) and Peter outside their shop in Thornton village.