Start Your Business in North Northamptonshire

To qualify, you must:

• live in North Northamptonshire and be planning to trade, or already trading, in North Northamptonshire
• have a pre-start business or a business that has been registered and trading for less than 6 months on the application deadline date
• attend at least three BIPC Northamptonshire support sessions before the application deadline. This can be any combination of:
  • workshops
  • webinars
  • one-to-one appointments
  • mentoring sessions
• include at least one one-to-one session as part of the three sessions
• complete feedback forms for the three BIPC Northamptonshire sessions you have attended

One-to-one appointments are subject to staff availability. We recommend booking early, as we cannot guarantee appointment availability close to the grant application deadline.Sessions attended before 31 March 2026 cannot be counted towards the eligibility criteria.

You cannot apply if you:

• received a BIPC Northamptonshire Build Your Business Grant in 2023, 2024 or 2025
• are an employee or elected member of North Northamptonshire Council or West Northamptonshire Council

Grants are paid in advance and are subject to the terms of the Grant Funding Agreement. No match funding is required.

Successful applicants must

• provide evidence of how the grant has been spent, including invoices and bank statements
• be willing to take part in a case study and share how the grant and support programme have helped their business
• agree to the use of photographs or video content for publicity by BIPC Northamptonshire, North Northamptonshire Council and the British Library

The grant can be spent on any legitimate business need, such as: 

• equipment
• materials
• hardware 
• software
• professional services
• website development 
• digital marketing
• training or facilitation costs where directly relevant to business

The grant cannot be spent on:

• activities which are discriminatory, political, or are classed as religious conversion
• where there is statutory funding provision available
• costs that can be claimed back from elsewhere e.g. VAT
• costs that are not auditable e.g. cash payments unsupported by an approved financial system
• costs towards banking charges or repayment of debt
• payments made to individual members of the applicant business who have a personal financial interest
• retrospective costs e.g. activities completed, or costs incurred before the agreement of funding
• programmes or activities which are considered the core activity of national or regional government, Government Departments or arms-length body, such as health or education
• gifts and prizes
• alcohol
• employee costs, including salaries
• political lobbying
• works to facilities that are/should be subject to an insurance claim
• capital works to a residential property
• projects already funded by other North Northamptonshire Council funding