Dunoon Presents, Dunoon’s Business Improvement District (BID), has been awarded £15,500 from the Scottish Government’s BID Resilience Fund, delivered through the Scottish Towns Partnership, to provide much needed support to local companies in Dunoon.
The funding will help Dunoon Presents and partners Argyll and Bute Council, Dunoon Area Alliance, plus local suppliers, lead the response to the challenges facing local businesses in the wake of the pandemic crisis. This partnership approach has developed and delivered a programme of assistance that includes:
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Setting up a delivery hub to help local businesses get their products out to customers;
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Organising a series of seminars and expert help to complement the existing digital provision from Business Gateway;
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Helping businesses reach new, and existing, customers by improving their online presence by developing the Digital Dunoon project in conjunction with Dunoon Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS); and
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Issuing free hand sanitiser dispensers and an on-going supply of gel, to businesses to help them keep staff and customers safe as they open again.
Dunoon Presents, has quickly evolved from an events-based BID whose goal is to attract visitors to Cowal and Dunoon. When it became clear that events needed to be postponed at this time, the BID refocused its activities in line with government advice and is now helping local businesses do the same.
To make sure that the project delivers social and economic benefits at a local level, Dunoon Presents is working alongside Dunoon Area Alliance regeneration initiative and Dunoon CARS, and engaging local freelancer specialists through Dunoon and Cowal Co-works to support the delivery of the programme. These partners have provided in-kind support and technical assistance, demonstrating the wealth of skills, knowledge and collaborative action that is possible and critical to Dunoon’s recovery.
Feedback from the project has been excellent with local business, Swordfish Marine, saying: “Many thanks, from all at Swordfish Marine for your efforts in sourcing and supplying the kit to our business today. I would equally take this opportunity to thank you all for your hard work, keeping us so well informed with help and support during these difficult times.”
Colin Moulson, the Dunoon BID manager, said: “The BID board and I are one hundred per cent focused on delivering tangible, hands-on assistance to the businesses at this extraordinary time in our lives, aided in no small part by the BIDs Resilience Fund.”
Fergus Murray, Head of Development and Economic Growth, said: “There is a real need for everyone to work together at this time, find new ways of doing business, and at the same time keeping people safe in our communities. The BIDs resilience fund has helped make this possible in Dunoon.”