About ESIF
The East of Scotland Investment Fund (ESIF) offers loans of up to £50,000 to new and growing, small and medium sized businesses.
Our aim is to ensure that good, commercially viable proposals do not fail from a lack of access to finance. Additionally, we want to encourage and support the creation, development and growth of businesses within each of the nine local authority areas which will in turn be able to contribute to, and strengthen, their local economy in terms of jobs, growth and wealth.
ESIF as a public sector owned fund can provide up to 50% of the funding package required to help start up and grow your business. In addition, ESIF in conjunction with any other sources of public funds will not contribute more than 50% of the funding package therefore the balance of the funding package must be provided by the private sector, usually from the owners, directors and the bank.
ESIF is modelled on the successful West of Scotland Loan Fund which has earned an outstanding reputation for assisting businesses over the last 14 years when other conventional sources of funding have not been able to fully fund projects. ESIF has secured funding of £5 million from the nine local authority members, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the European Regional Development Fund.
This significant increase in new resources for the east of Scotland will allow ESIF to increase the supply of loan finance to new and growing SME's. It will also directly improve the business birth rate and growth potential of those supported, as well as making a major contribution to job creation. With a fund value of £5m the East of Scotland Investment Fund will be able to support the creation of 1,000 new jobs throughout the east of Scotland during the next five years.