The Isle of Man Government has announced the proposed creation of a £50million Enterprise Development Fund (EDF) to support local businesses and encourage new companies to relocate to the Island.
The £50million fund, which will eventually be self-sustaining, will provide grant, loan and equity investment to new Isle of Man start-ups, existing expanding Isle of Man businesses and businesses wishing to relocate to the Island.
There are three core support types proposed in the new scheme:
Fledgling: For start-ups on-Island (typically with 1-10 employees) – this element will be managed by the Department of Economic Development and is proposed to eventually replace the current Small Business Start-Up Scheme.
Accelerator: For Small to Medium Enterprises (typically with 5-20+ employees) entering the next growth phase – this element will be managed by a professional third party fund manager.
Relocator: For relocating medium to large firms to the Island – this element will be managed by a professional third party fund manager.
In line with the proposed fund, the Department of Economic Development has launched a consultation in order to gather essential industry feedback.
Minister for Economic Development, Laurence Skelly MHK commented: ‘The intention of the proposed Enterprise Development Fund is to create lasting new jobs in Isle of Man-based companies and to future-proof our economic base.
“This is a key element of delivering the ‘Enterprise Isle’ strategy highlighted in Government’s Vision2020 strategy.
Skelly added: “The level of jobs growth and the evolution in our economy demonstrated in Vision2020 is happening as predicted and nearly 400 additional new jobs were created in the Isle of Man last year. But if we are to maintain the level of public services we expect then it is imperative that we increase the growth in our economy by growing the numbers in our working population.”
An Expression of Interest has been published by the Isle of Man Treasury seeking the appointment by competitive tender of private investment managers for the management and investment of the fund, in particular the ‘Accelerator’ and ‘Relocator.’
In line with the proposed fund, the Department of Economic Development has launched a consultation in order to gather essential industry feedback.
The consultation is open to all interested businesses and individuals and can be found online at www.gov.im/consultations.gov under ‘Current Consultations.’
The consultation will close on Thursday 3 September, 2015 at 12 noon.
