Working with existing businesses in the city to grow and expand
There were 10,120 active enterprises in Coventry in 2021 – same as in 2020. This is a rate of 333 per 10,000 residents; lower than the rates in Warwickshire
and the WMCA average. This makes it particularly important for the Council to work to encourage new business startups and grow and expand existing ones.
Grants to businesses
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns, 16,750 grants totalling £99,236,500 were delivered to Coventry businesses via the Council’s economic development service and business rates team.
In 2021/22, the Council has awarded £1.72 million in direct cash grants to 482 businesses most affected by the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and awarded £3.97 million in discretionary cash grants to 1,674 businesses in the city.
Business support programmes
The Council continues to run three European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) business support programmes, with support moving to remote video conferencing, alongside online webinars. Grants of £2.04 million were paid out to 127 companies. When taking matched funding into account, this represents a total investment of £7,058,352 to the Coventry and Warwickshire economy.