Bradford has its own version of The Dragons' Den to give encouragement and money to people with new business ideas. JIM GREENHALF reports.

Officially it's called the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative - LEGI for short - and has its headquarters in the Design Centre in Little Germany.

Officially there is a pot of money - £21m - from the Government, payable over three years, which could be increased to £60 over ten years providing that Bradford Council can prove that certain conditions have been satisfactorily met.

Such as showing that the number of businesses above the VAT threshold are on the increase and that the number of people in receipt of unemployment benefits is on the decrease.

Bradford was awarded the money in late February this year following a sparklingly successful submission, a pilot project called Enterprise Island. This involved more than 140 potential entrepreneurs being questioned by a panel which then assessed their ideas. The best 14 went on to develop their business idea.

Bradford and the Government are looking for a significant return for the £21m between now and the end of 2008 - up to 1,000 new businesses generating work, income and, of courses, taxes.

Local Enterprise Growth Initiative doesn't sound much to get excited about. But trim away the jargon and imagine instead the format of the BBC2 programme The Dragons' Den.

This consists of five multi-millionaires scrutinising the business ideas of would-be entrepreneurs from the point of view of profitability. If they like what they hear they offer investment of up to £250,000 in return for a dragon's share of the business - usually between 40 and 50 per cent.

Bradford's version of The Dragons' Den comprises a panel of councillors and business people who mull over business propositions put to them by, well, anyone. There is no category of inclusion or exclusion; anyone, from any social background, in employment or out of it, can apply for assistance with a business idea.

Conservative councillor Andrew Mallinson, who has the regeneration portfolio on Bradford Council's executive committee, says that to date at least two panel meetings - they are called Enterprise Islands - have been held with up to 50 new businesses started up, some of them employing two or three people.

"Our panels are softer than The Dragons. They are not there to take profits away from people but to give entrepreneurs as much encouragement and practical help as possible.

"For example, we can supply them with accommodation, architects, accountants, solicitors, offering up to £3,000 worth of advice. We are looking at buying up small properties to give people the chance to test-trade their ideas - cutting out landlords who might ask for exorbitant rents for business units," he says.

Self-made business people, who got by without such assistance, are likely to be sceptical of this idea, taking the Darwinian approach that a variation of natural selection soon sorts out the true business type from the dabblers and charlatans.

Coun Mallinson is not a Gradgrind; but he has sufficient personal experience of starting up his own business to make him genuinely excited by the ramifications of LEGI.

"Thirteen years ago I had an idea, walked into the bank to be given a raft of papers on how to draw up a business plan, with no support. It was absolutely daunting," he says.

"It took me weeks to muddle through. I took the papers back to the bank and they threw them back at me. I was in despair. Months went by that seemed like a lifetime.

"For 12 months I sweated on whether I would be able to make enough money to cover the following week. There was no support mechanism. I understand the anxiety people have in having an idea and wanting to put it to good use."

His business, by the way, had to do with auto-electrical car repairs. At its peak Andrew Mallinson employed five people. He recently sold the business to make more time for his current political job.

Are Bradford's softer dragons up to spotting the charlatans bidding for the cash help and directing a burst of wrath at them?

"Anybody genuine will want a hand-holding experience at least for the first six months. A scammer will never be heard of again if he doesn't get any money," Coun Mallinson adds.

There are strings attached. Hefty chunks of money are not simply handed out to anyone who knows how to tick all the right boxes on things such as diversity, equal opportunities and climate change. The Council has got to report back to the Government annually on the success or failure of its LEGI programme.

  • The next Enterprise Island panel meets next January or February. If you have a business idea that you believe you could make a go of, with a little help, call 0800 9539503.
ENTERPRISE ISLAND SUCCESS STORIES

Here are a few examples of schemes that have won support from Bradford's dragons on Enterprise Island.

  • Trish Cooke, actress, author and TV writer - co-creator of the Tweenies - decided to set up her own company to publish the children's books she writes and to do workshops in schools.
In addition she wants to run a TV production company that will back people to produce their own television programmes.

"In three years' time the children's department of the BBC will be moving to Manchester - this is something I want to tap into," she says.

  • Camran Shahid got approval for his idea of an all-purpose supply company for schools, providing everything from building services to computer equipment.
"I have had eight years' experience of selling products and have a five-year plan to establish a customer base. The first three years will be not-for-profit and after that, when I am established, the money should start to come in," he says.
  • Sheila Asante, a former nursing home carer, is having a go at marketing and selling her own prawn chilli sauce - a recipe she developed during five years in Ghana.
"Enterprise Island showed me how other people had made their ideas come true and that I could do the same," she says.