The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has thanked the Mail titles for ‘doing its bit’ to help struggling UK businesses with a £3m advertising scheme for small firms hit by the coronavirus crisis.
Successful applicants will be given advertising worth £3,000 to feature in Mail-owned titles including the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, MailOnline, the i newspaper or the Metro.
The Chancellor is among entrepreneurs and leading business-people to voice their support for the initiative. On the day he announced a four-month extension to the government worker retention scheme, Sunak said: ‘I want to thank the Mail for doing its bit to help small businesses get through these challenging and unsettling times.
‘Our High Street firms are the backbone of our economy and they will be vital in helping us recover from the outbreak.’
The scheme has also been backed by BBC Dragons’ Den businessman Theo Paphitis who said he would recommend the programme to his Small Business Sunday network which includes 3,000 small businesses. Paphitis told the Metro, ‘this is a great initiative, hats off to DMGT and the FSB for collaborating on this and throwing them a life-life’.
Applications opened today for the scheme by proprietor Daily Mail and General Trust (DGMT) which has said it will also help business owners design an advert if they do not have one.
The BBC’s Apprentice businesswoman Baroness Karren Brady supported the scheme hailing it as a ‘wonderful platform for these firms to raise their profile and show off what they can do in some Britain’s biggest newspapers.’
The Mail has also been running a £6.4m charity operation in conjunction with the government to organise the shipment of PPE for NHS and care home workers on the frontline of the pandemic.
Former Apprentice-winner Michelle Dewberry added she has seen the devastating impact of the coronavirus crisis on many companies. She said she was hopeful that Metro readers will support companies which are ‘the lifeblood of our economy […] it is vital that as many as possible are able to survive.’
The fund is open to businesses that have been established for more than six months, employ fewer than 150 people and have a turnover of below £6m a year.
The MailOnline has said the first advertisements will start to appear from May 20. To apply, visit grants.fsb.org.uk and create an account.
