North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (North East MSA) Business Support Transition Programme
The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (North East MSA) Business Support Transition Programme forms part of the region's approach to sustaining economic growth and supporting businesses during a period of change in funding arrangements. Building on previous UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) investment, the programme provides a nine-month period of transition funding from April to December 2026, enabling continued delivery of essential business support while a new, long-term regional Business Support Framework is developed.
The programme is funded through the North East MSA's Integrated Settlement (Economic Growth and Regeneration Pillar) and reflects a commitment to creating a more streamlined, accessible and effective business support offer across the region. Within Sunderland, £1,059,337 of grant funding has been allocated to deliver a locally managed programme of activity aligned with regional priorities.
This funding supports a range of projects focused on strengthening the local business ecosystem, supporting entrepreneurship, driving innovation and productivity, and promoting inclusive economic growth. Sunderland City Council acts as the Accountable Body for this funding, overseeing delivery, monitoring performance and ensuring compliance with programme requirements.
Below are details of the projects being delivered in Sunderland as part of this programme. Should you require any further information, please contact the Business Investment Team at [email protected].
Sunderland Business Support Fund
Delivery organisation: Northumberland Business Services Limited
This grant programme helps businesses to access external expertise to implement business growth and improvement plans. Grants, covering up to 40% of eligible business spend, are available to support projects costing between £3,000 and £6,000 (excluding VAT).
The grant can support consultancy, design or development projects. Examples include: web design/development, video production, development of animations, marketing planning, business growth planning, developing quality management systems and strategy development.
Contact: John King - [email protected]
Weblink: https://growwithnbsl.org.uk/sunderland-business-support-fund-overview/
BIPC Local Provision
Delivery organisation: Newcastle City Council / BIPC North East
Our project aims to continue to support the creation and growth of micro, small and medium sized enterprises, social enterprises and not-for profit organisations within Sunderland and the wider north-east region.
Pre-start, startup and business support provision provided by other local agencies will be complimented and enhanced by a wider Business & Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) programme of activity; which offers face-to-face and online access to intellectual property and business expertise (through BIPC Experts in Residence); business databases; a programme of events and workshops providing skills training, networking opportunities and linking clients into the broader business support network.
Contact: Sarah Turnbull - [email protected]
Weblink: https://www.bipcnortheast.co.uk/
Sunderland Innovate and Grow - Innovation Placements
Delivery organisation: University of Sunderland
Sunderland Innovate and Grow (SIG) will deliver a focused intervention through the provision of Innovation Placements to stimulate innovation and support sustainable business growth across the city. The programme will benefit Sunderland-based companies by offering targeted business support exclusively through these placements, addressing identified gaps in capacity and capability to innovate. By enabling active engagement with student and graduate talent, Innovation Placements will support businesses to develop new ideas, strengthen internal skills, and embed innovative practices that underpin long-term growth.
The University of Sunderland has a range of flexible student placements available for eligible companies to explore.
Contact: Donna Bainbridge [email protected]
Contact: Duncan McDonald [email protected]
Enterprising Sunderland
Delivery organisation: North East Business & Innovation Centre (NE-BIC)
Delivery partners: Sunderland BME Network, Transmit/Smarta, University of Sunderland, Princes Trust, SB International Centre, Sunderland City Council
Enterprising Sunderland is a consortium of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, in conjunction with public sector partners, all of whom have a vested interest in supporting enterprise and all of whom have a local base and an inherent commitment to the economic and social wellbeing of Sunderland, its residents and its businesses.
It will support a mixture of activities to deliver an increased entrepreneurial culture in Sunderland, new business starts, growth of existing businesses and specific support to them to innovate. It will operate all of its activities across the whole of the Sunderland City Council area.
Awareness raising - we will raise awareness of the opportunities around entrepreneurship. The aim is to get people thinking about enterprise as an option and to promote the availability of business support activity. This will be delivered by members of the consortium who are closest to the respective potential client groups, with some central coordination;
Engagement and Animation - this will be activity designed to help people consider the benefits of enterprise as an option and to start to formulate their approaches. This will be delivered by a variety of approaches appropriate to the client group;
Enterprising People - specific training and one-to-one advice will be available on the various aspects of starting a business. This will largely be delivered centrally but with customised provision for specific groups where this makes sense from a delivery perspective e.g. student / graduate enterprise;
Enterprising businesses - encouraging and supporting enterprise and innovation in Sunderland businesses, through the provision of Growth Labs and Themed Masterclasses as well as specific support to the retail sector to encourage diversification;
Solutions support - this will provide funding to deliver a mix of test the market grants and specialist support to pre-starts, as well as specialist support and start up grants to early stage businesses. This will be managed as one budget to further enable the project to be completely flexible in support of individual client needs. This more flexible approach has been designed in response to our internal evaluation of the current project, which has found that 'silo-ing' of particular interventions has proved a bar to maximising client benefit and impact.
Innovation grants - to support innovation, and to capitalise on the benefits from Innovation Roadmap workshops and Growth Labs.
Contact: Paul McEldon - [email protected]
Weblink: www.ne-bic.co.uk
Wear Together Programme
Delivery organisation: North East Business & Innovation Centre (NE-BIC)
Wear Together supports the start-up, development, and growth of social enterprises and socially trading organisations across Sunderland.
The initiative offers tailored specialist advice, alongside a programme of workshops and networking events, to help social entrepreneurs turn ideas into sustainable businesses. Participants receive support to explore and refine their social enterprise concepts through business planning, financial forecasting, and guidance on legal structures and funding opportunities.
Wear Together also works with established and post-start social enterprises, helping them to strengthen sustainability, develop new products and services, create jobs, and scale their social and economic impact in Sunderland. Support is delivered flexibly through one-to-one sessions, small group activity, and structured workshop programmes.
Through our networking opportunity, Connecting for Good, we bring the local social enterprise sector together, encouraging peer-to-peer mentoring, collaboration, and idea-sharing which helps to build resilience, capability, and long-term impact across the sector.
Contact: Michelle Booth - [email protected]
Weblink: https://ne-bic.co.uk/social-enterprise/wear-together-sunderland/
Supply Chain Sunderland
Delivery organisation: RTC North
The Supply Chain Sunderland project will strengthen Sunderland's local entrepreneurial ecosystem by improving business resilience and growth, boosting survival rates, driving innovation, and enhancing market readiness for new supply chain opportunities.
Assistance will be provided to Sunderland SMEs in the manufacturing and service sectors to:
- Assess core capabilities, strengths and challenges
- Identify areas for productivity enhancement, resilience building, and innovation.
- Access opportunities to grow market share and diversify income, derisk the business and safeguard jobs.
Delivery Strands:
Strand 1: Awareness Raising
- "New Market & Supply Chain " events for sectors like Screen Industries, Defence, Space and Renewable Energy
- Online 'Supply Chain Exchange Portal' with dedicated events to network and enhance visibility
- Sector-specific events with partners like NEPO, NOF Energy, NERDSC, Space NE England Global Underwater Hub and MAKE UK.
Strand 2: Account Management, Diagnostic, and Action Planning
Capability review, market summary, growth aspirations, new market opportunities, digital deep-dive and GAP analysis.
Strand 3: Low Intensity Support
Interventions, events, and workshops on global markets, procurement, bid writing, process improvement, value proposition and sales, branding & marketing.
Contact: Lesley Hawke - [email protected]
Weblink: https://supplychainnorth.co.uk/sunderland/
Esports Business Cluster
Delivery organisation: British Esports Federation
Delivery partners: Sunderland Software City
The Esports Business Cluster aims to help businesses in Sunderland understand the benefits of engaging in the rapidly evolving esports industry. Working with the British Esports Federation and Sunderland Software City provides businesses with a unique opportunity to develop new products and services that will enable them to access new audiences and deliver bespoke services that will integrate new or emerging technologies linked to esports, AI and wider tech innovation.
The Cluster supports businesses across the City of Sunderland area, enabling them to join the supply chain for two world‑class facilities: the National Esports Performance Campus and the new British Arena, opening in 2026. This creates a significant economic opportunity for Sunderland, allowing a broad range of organisations to diversify, innovate, or enter new markets driven by the growth of esports and related technologies.
Alongside business engagement, the programme provides tailored support for new entrepreneurs, established esports companies, and businesses adjacent to the sector seeking to pivot or scale into one of the world's fastest growing industries.
Depending on the type of organisation or individual support required, the support will consist of:
1. Workshops to share high level strategic knowledge around esports and emerging technologies to best place businesses for impact and innovation
2. Esports specific training interventions enabling knowledge transfer
3. Esports networking events where local SMEs connect with global esports brands creating partnership opportunities
4. Supply Chain SME workshops and networking events helping local businesses to take advantage of the opportunities working in the sector provides
5. Focused support for potential entrepreneurs.
The project will be delivered from the National Esports Performance Campus, The Place in Sunderland City Centre in partnership with Sunderland Software City.
Contact: Kalam Neale ([email protected]) and Alice Whorley ([email protected])
Weblink: https://britishesports.org/
Unlock: Creative Industries Support Programme
Delivery organisation: Sunderland Culture
The new Unlock: Creative Industries Support Programme is designed to help established independent, creative practitioners, business or organisations in Sunderland access a range of financial and none-financial business development opportunities. The programme includes:
- Unlock Creative Development Grant: up to £5,000 grant to support development of their business or indirect safeguarding of jobs
- Unlock: Creative business mentoring: accessing targeted mentoring support by industry experts in areas that will support business growth
- Enterprise growth support: offering access to a tailored programme of networking activities, workshops and specialist advice.
Contact: Daniel Appleby, Nick Malyan
Email address: [email protected]
Weblink: https://www.sunderlandculture.org.uk/unlock
