A fund to help disadvantaged Bradford entrepreneurs build new businesses has proved so successful it is to be extended to Leeds.

The Business Enterprise Fund (BEF) was started 18 months ago with £360,000 of backing.

Although it was targeted at high-risk businesses who had been denied help by banks and high street lenders, not one of the 103 businesses assisted failed, although the normal rate for new firms going bust was three in ten.

The fund, which has now been relaunched with £870,000 available, is managed by Bradford Enterprise Agency, an organisation formed by Bradford Chamber of Commerce.

Backing has come from the Department of Trade and Industry's Small Business Service. as well as regeneration bodies such as Newlands SRB, Bradford Trident and Regen 2000. An estate agent, restaurant, options and a courier service have received up to £30,000 in backing. Companies involved in cleaning, fencing, haulage, frozen food and paper shredding have also been helped.

Linda Pollard, a board director of Yorkshire Forward who launched the extension of the highly-successful scheme into the Leeds area, said: "When I started out in business I may have been thought of as an entrepreneur, but I didn't think of myself as such, and people don't think of themselves in those terms today. They are people with ideas that need help developing those ideas. The BEF can help them put those ideas into practice.

"The main type of business in Bradford is made up of small and medium-size enterprises and entrepreneurs. Without supporting them both financially and through good business practice, this - nor any other region - can hope to grow economically. You can't have physical regeneration without economic regeneration."

Stephen Waud, BEF fund manager, said: "We don't just give people money, we provide training in financial management and mentoring support. This keeps the rate of business failure far below the average. The fund unlocks people's potential to pursue opportunities or set up new ventures that otherwise could not go ahead."

Bradford Chamber of Commerce president Richard Wightman, said: "It speaks volumes about the scheme that so far in Bradford we haven't had a single failure."