About Us

Business Durham provides dynamic and proactive support to the business community in County Durham, and is the business gateway to Durham County Council. Business Durham is the first point of contact for businesses operating in County Durham, offering advice and guidance to support their growth and development, and providing businesses with an easy route in to County Council services that they may need to access. Business Durham also promotes enterprise and business start-up within the County, working closely with partners to raise aspirations and encourage an enterprise culture.

Have you ever thought about starting your own business? Have you got an idea, but not sure what to do with it? Perhaps you've wondered whether you have the right skills to pursue your dream. If you currently live in County Durham, or you're looking to start your business in County Durham, there is someone who can support you every step of the way and provide business start-up and funding advice, as well as training courses to support you in preparing your business. Business Durham provides an area based approach to supporting businesses in the county. The county has been divided into 3 geographic areas - East, North and South/West - each of which has a nominated Business Development Officer to support businesses in the area. The Business Development Officers will help facilitate the development of the businesses and address any threats or opportunities.

If you have a problem affecting your business finding the right person to speak to can sometimes be difficult, whether within the county council or one of our partner organisations. The Business Development Team has adopted an area based approach to supporting business so that we can be your first port of call to help resolve an issue that might be affecting your business. The Strategic Account Management is a service for key UK and Foreign Direct Investors in County Durham. It provides a joined up approach to business support in the region with access to national and international networks. Whether you are looking for grants, loans or equity for your business, we have a searchable database that will help create a bespoke report containing the funds and schemes that are relevant to your business.


Funding schemes are laden with criteria. These criteria may be dependent on a number of factors, for example, your business type, geographical location, what the funding is for etc. By asking you a series of questions, we can filter out schemes that are not relevant to you, and give you information about the schemes for which you may be eligible. Scheme information, all the relevant links, including contacts will be included. For your records, a document containing all the information you require to apply for these grant, loan or equity schemes will be sent to you.
This discreet and confidential service will take out the time and effort required on your part.