OBJECTIVE ONE is all about businesses - right? So why is it so hard for businesses to apply for the money? This feature explains how Pembrokeshire businesses can - and are - receiving money from Objective One and how your business can benefit too.

TO EXPAND, businesses need finance. Where that finance comes from and how it reaches them is rather less important. What is important is that businesses are not tied up in red tape so that, at least, they can get some cash in their bank accounts.

The Objective One application process is very bureaucratic. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since it helps to ensure that public money is spent on those projects that deliver the best value. But it is very frustrating for businesses that want a quick answer to a request for funding. Thats why theres a system for businesses to get Objective One without heartache - its called indirect applications.

Under this system, public bodies like local authorities, the Welsh Development Agency, the Wales Tourist Board and others apply for Objective One to operate grant schemes for businesses. Businesses capable of creating jobs or generating growth are then invited to apply to the public body concerned.

So businesses get Objective One money without having to complete 40 page application forms and without waiting five months for the application to go through the system. Instead, businesses can have their indirect applications approved in a matter of weeks. The only problem is that businesses often do not realise that what they are receiving is Objective One money!

Lets have a look at a few of these schemes:

q Pembrokeshire County Council operates its Small Business Grants, including grants for business expansion, start-ups and technology. q The Wales Tourist Board operates a scheme which has benefited 32 Pembrokeshire tourism businesses since July 2000, to the tune of £1.3 million (only just less than Anglesey, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion put together).

q Finance Wales was launched last month and provides loans, equity finance and mezzanine finance to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises).

q Arena Network is able to offer grants towards environmental improvements that will cut businesses costs, and grants are available for those in the agricultural sector towards processing and marketing. Details of these and other grant schemes are available on the Pembrokeshire Partnership Management Board website at: www.objective1-pembrokeshire.org.uk.

Pembrokeshire County Council business grant information can be obtained from the councils Economic Development Division (telephone 01437 776172). Information on WTB grants is available at: www.wales-tourist-board.govv.uk while the Finance Wales website is: www.financewales.co.uk. The Arena Network website is: www.greendragonwales.com.

Look at these schemes - and get some money for your business! l This report is produced by the Pembrokeshire Partnership Management Board Secretariat to help Pembrokeshire gain the maximum benefit from Objective One. Further information is available from the Secretariat, c/o Economic Development Division, Pembrokeshire County Council, County Hall, Haverfordwest, SA61 1TP.