A St Ives business is reflecting on its success over the last couple of years, and staff believe it is thanks to the contribution of the growth grant from Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC). 

IT support and consultancy company, ILUX, secured the grant during the pandemic, and was one of the first to successfully apply. 

Since then, ILUX has been able to create new jobs, developing a new internal training academy and new business acquisition. 

The growth grant funding was part of the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The scheme offered small and medium-sized businesses operating in Huntingdonshire a grant of up to £50,000 to support businesses that may have had their growth plans delayed as a result of the pandemic restrictions. 

CEO, James Tilbury, said: “Our clients suddenly had to equip their staff in a totally new way as working from home was not the “norm” as it is now. 

“Some business owners were overwhelmed with problems that, with planning, could have been prevented; lockdown caught many businesses off guard. 

“We were in a fortunate position to be able to respond quickly to our client’s demands and worked tirelessly to get them up and running securely and efficiently.” 

The ILUX management team saw the grant as a real opportunity to continue this growth and set even more ambitious objectives and goals. 

They used the investment to develop the sales and marketing team, creating a new marketing manager role in April 2022, a new sales manager, they’re growing their account management team, have already doubled their service desk team, and have recently recruited a new head of service delivery. 

ILUX is also embracing a move toward a more sustainable future, investing in a new fleet of hybrid company cars for its field service engineers. 

Chief financial officer, Clare Elliott, said: “The growth grant gave us the confidence to be far more ambitious than we perhaps would have been in such an uncertain economic climate. 

“We had a growth strategy in place, but the investment from HDC meant that we could turbo boost our plans.” 

The scheme was designed to support businesses until 2024 and ILUX still has many more objectives to reach. 

Speaking of the scheme, economic development manager for HDC, Nykki Rogers, said: “The implementation of the growth grant scheme across Huntingdonshire was a key priority for us as it has enabled businesses across the district to accelerate their plans for growth and create jobs in the local economy. 

“We’re looking forward to supporting ILUX and their exciting future.”