Members at Badenoch and Strathspey Area Committee recognise work of Business Gateway through COVID pandemic
Badenoch and Strathspey Area Committee Members have praised Business Gateway for the way it supported and continues to support local businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Business Gateway Service & Development Manager, Danny Gallagher, presented a report to Members at today’s Area Committee.
Mr Gallagher said that it was important to acknowledge the employees called upon, and the wider corporate effort of co-ordinating teams.
He said: “If nothing else I think it demonstrates Highland Council’s strength and ability to respond and deliver in a crisis generally.”
The core team for delivering grants is the Economy and Regeneration team, but Business Gateway has also been able to call upon others in the wider Economy and Infrastructure team and business support to act as application processors.
Mr Gallagher added: “We have, dependent on schemes had the Non-domestic Rates team assisting (but assessors have also helped when queries have related to original assessments) and that local knowledge was invaluable to ensure businesses got the support.”
All of these employees have contributed to delivering some £85m at present to over 8000 businesses (many of which have now received multiple grants). This is the third largest grants processing in Scotland, which makes it a very good news story for Highland Council.
Mr Gallagher also thanked his own Business Gateway team, saying: “I run the Business Gateway Highland service so it would be remiss of me not to mention my team who have also been heavily involved in the grant application process. But I think it’s also useful just to give a general overview of the BG service.
“We’ve delivered almost 1600 businesses with support since April. From grant support and organisational re-structuring, selling digitally to expert help on survival. We, as a team have had to work differently, more importantly we have had to retrain and refresh our knowledge base.
“Business survival was not an area we dealt with day to day post-Covid, but that has clearly changed.”
There are some positives during the pandemic. Business Gateway has had 152 start-ups, some spotting opportunities linked to the Pandemic.
However, Mr Gallagher urged caution, saying: “I should however mention this start-up number is around 50% down on the same period last year, so we have work to do.”
Chair of the Badenoch and Strathspey Area Committee, Cllr Bill Lobban, responded: “On behalf of the businesses you have helped since the start of the pandemic I would like to say a big thank you. Many of them which had come back to me to tell me how valuable Business Gateway’s support has been.
“I can’t stress enough how much effort has gone into helping our businesses survive throughout this appalling pandemic.”