How to Utilise Government Grants to Start Business?

Government grants are an important resource that greatly assists startups and small-scale businesses. They supply enterprises with money for exploring business opportunities and implementing business plans for organisational growth.

However, many enterprises do not leverage the full benefit of these grants and waste grant money on unnecessary things. Hence, to save you from making such mistakes, we have built a list of things that can be done using the grant money.

So let us move ahead and explore how to utilise your grants for the growth of your business efficiently.

Where to Use Government Grants in Business?

There are a plethora of useful activities where grant money can be utilised. Following are some of the things you should consider using the grant money for your business:

1. Make Use of Money in Initial Investments for Business

Starting a business is no piece of cake. Whatever the nature of your business, it takes a substantial amount of money to start a new venture. There are several kinds of initial requirements needed to set up a business. From your office infrastructure to buying equipment to hiring employees, money is required for all purposes.

Hence, you should start by enlisting your needs and the required money to obtain those resources. Then further use the grant money to purchase those resources and fuel your enterprise for growth.

2. Hire New Employees for the Business

One of the most challenging tasks for a new business is to generate employee salaries. As most newly set up businesses are often unprofitable at the initial stage, the businesses require funds to provide for employees’ salaries.

So the businesses can strategically plan a way to store some of the grant money for facilitating employee salaries. The remaining amount can be used for business operations or any other relevant tasks.

3. Upgrade your System Software

Purchasing software for your business can turn out to be really expensive. Especially in today’s subscription-based models, the amount required to acquire software can be significant.

Therefore, you can leverage the grant money to buy these expensive software for your business. Once you have the software required to run your business, you can at least start your business operations and earn some money from it.

4. Design an Engaging and Functional Business Website

In today’s digital world, having an engaging and functional website and mobile application is a must for any business. Your presence on digital platforms makes your business visible to a greater audience.

It hugely impacts the growth of your business as more users can find and use your services and products. So one of the good ways to utilise your grant money is to build a terrific website for your business that can draw higher leads for your business.

5. Utilise Funds for Marketing Campaigns (Online and Offline)

Marketing is essential to promote and grow any business. And today, hundreds of marketing models are available to level up your business. From offline to online sources, marketing can be done in various ways.

The most common offline marketing method is giving TV or newspaper advertisements, printing banners and scaffoldings, etc. Contrary to that, online marketing is another way to promote your business expeditiously.

However, all these marketing campaigns require huge money to run successfully. Above that, marketing is such an essential commodity that it needs to be run all time.

So a good way to utilise your government funds is to use them for the marketing purpose of your business. But make sure only to spend a fraction of grant money on promotions and not use all the money for it.

6. Buy Equipment or Purchase Inventory

Another efficient use of government funds can be purchasing equipment and inventory for your business. Inventory consists of raw materials or goods needed to manufacture your products. It may also consist of different types of products, especially if you run an eCommerce business.

So having a large inventory is a must if you wish to succeed in your business. Therefore, you can leverage the grant money to fill your inventory or buy necessary equipment for your business operations.

7. Expand Your Partnerships

More money in the business means you can create more valuable partnerships with people you need in business. Many enterprises mistake neglecting the partnerships at the initial stage, which they regret later.

Hence, it would be highly effective for your business if you invested some part of your grant money in forming partnerships with vendors and retailers to promote your business.

8. Strengthen the Logistics for Your Orders

Logistics are extremely important for your business if you are in an eCommerce or product business. But the cost required for logistics in the business is quite substantial. Above that, the losses incurred due to pilferages are another concern.

Hence, you want to have good and reliable logistic services for your business that provide the right value to your business. Therefore, to avail of quick and staunch logistics services, you need a handsome amount of money that can be obtained from the grant money.

Use Your Grant Money to Grow your Business!

Use Cases of Businesses Started from Grant Money

Here are some of the real-world examples that have successfully used the grant money to put their business on the trajectory of growth.

1. Cater to Mom

It is a purposefully designed business for mom’s postpartum care by Marsha Stephanson. The business focuses on providing valuable products in the form of a subscription box to mothers who recently had their babies. It is an innovative business that has struck a chord with thousands of women and generates huge profits.

Where did the business receive the grant from?

Cater to Mom received an initial grant of $10,000 from the Hello Alice Stacy’s Rise Project Grant.

Where was the Grant Money Spent?

The grant money received by Cater to Mom was spent on purchasing a large amount of inventory for the customers. Besides, the money was also used to hire a part-time operations assistant who significantly helped grow the business.

How Did the Grant Money Impact their Business?

The grant money positively impacted the business growth. As a new assistant was hired, the speed of operations was enhanced. Moreover, with added inventory, the business was able to fulfil a large number of customer orders.

Marsha, the company CEO, exclaims that the grant money highly encouraged their business and set it on the track to growth. They have been successfully running for over three years and making good profits in their business.

2. Proton Mail

Proton Mail is an encrypted email service started in 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. It leverages client-side encryption to secure email content and user data before they it is sent further to the recipient. The service ensures higher security for the transfer of data and is highly popular worldwide.

Where did the business receive the grant from?

Proton Mail received an amount of €2 million from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program.

Where was the Grant Money Spent?

The grant money received by ProtonMail was mostly utilised for building technologies for ProtonDrive. Apart from that, the money was leveraged for expanding the Proton product offerings for customers to enhance their global competitiveness.

How Did the Grant Money Impact their Business?

Proton Mail had a user base of fewer than 2 million users in 2017. After receiving the grant money, they used it to improve their technologies and advance the business which helped them gain a user base of almost 70 million members in 2022.

3. User Testing

It is an on-demand human insight platform headquartered in San Francisco, the USA which aims to improve customer insights for better business decision-making. The enterprise has helped numerous organisations globally to analyse their business data to generate key insights for the sustainable growth of their business.

Where did the business receive the grant from?

User Testing received a grant of £3.2 Million from Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency.

Where was the Grant Money Spent?

The grant money was used to expand the company’s product portfolio through R&D investments. They hired over 70 high-value technical professionals proficient in Product and Engineering functions that helped boost their business growth.

How Did the Grant Money Impact their Business?

The grant money helped the organisation to hire technical professionals that levelled up their business growth by streamlining the company workflows. User Testing now has successfully acquired over 4 organisations and annually generates average revenue of $190.0 million.

Key Tips to Successfully Manage the Grant Money

Here are some valuable tips that can be used to manage the grant money successfully

1. Identify Your Purpose to be Filled with Grant Money

Foremostly, you need to identify the purpose you will use the grant money. Grants are a highly powerful resource that can help in the growth of your business. But note that grant money can be wasted too quickly if not properly planned.

2. Create a Vision

Building a vision for using your grant money is a great idea. It helps you stay focused on your goal and ensure that your grant money is utilised only for the benefit of your organisation.

3. Build an Effective Plan

Once you have created a vision for using grants, the next step is to build an effective plan for the same. Utilise all your resources and take your colleagues’ input to build an effective plan to use the grant money.

4. Build a Grant Calendar

Do not just stop after building your plan for the grants. The next step is to create a grant calendar that will help everyone stay on schedule and deliver work on time. It is a great way to ensure consistent progress on your goals.

5. Track Progress and Measure Success

Lastly, you must set specific metrics to measure the success of your plan. Keeping track of your progress helps everyone to stay focused on the goals and achieve the aim more efficiently.

Know About the Best Government Grants for Startup Business in UK 2022!

Can Government Grants Aid in Higher Business Growth?

Yes! Indeed! Government grants are extremely helpful to power your business with the resources it needs for its growth. Here are a few ways in which it helps in your business growth:

1. Higher Financial Freedom

Startups usually struggle in their initial days due to a lack of money. With grants in hand, your organisation will have the higher financial freedom to run its operations and make it to the profitable ground.

2. More Resources to Buy Assets

Having grants by your side means you have higher power to add necessary assets to your organisation. With the grant money, you can buy useful equipment that will aid in the growth of your business.

3. It Shows Government’s Trust in Your Business

The process of obtaining government grants isn’t that simple. You need to present multiple documents to the grant issuer which suggest that your organisation is entitled to get funds. When you successfully get these funds, people show higher faith in your organisation as it was trusted by the government itself.

4. More Risking Power

Higher money risk in the business leads to higher profits. This is how the business world runs. With the grant money, you gain the ability to take higher risks and earn good profit for your organisation.

Conclusion

Money is undoubtedly a useful entity, especially for a small-scale business. When you successfully obtain government grants, it is important to use them wisely for the right progress of your business. In case you find it challenging to utilise these funds effectively, you can reach out to our Head45 team for the best utilisation of your government grants.