agencies to help borrow money/investors

Try contacting your local Businesslink, they have a database with information about grants, investors and loans. Also if you are between 16 to 30 Shell Livewire is a good one as well. Giovanna

There should also be local enterprise agencies in your area who might be able to assist.
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http://www.qualityeye.com
Focus Group Recruitment/ Mystery Shopping Services

There are also many brokers around who can help if you have a rough idea of what you are looking for. Business Angels can also be useful and you may be interested in having a look at the Commercial section at http://www.mortgage-now.co.uk where details of the Angel Investment scheme can be found
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Ian

In my experience Business Link is as good as the person heading it up in your region. I raised funds last year through a combination of mortgage equity, grants and Angel Investment. The brokers at www.mortgage-now.co.uk, the site recommended by Ian J, were very helpful as they had contacts in each area.

thanks i almost missed these replies. the reason i asked is because i really need to employ some skilled workers and i dont really have the money to do this and get the ball rolling. I looked into freelancers and there were very few with the skills needed and most cost the earth. The other problem is i am currently a sole trader on a government scheme and can not register as limited (well i have but keeping it dormant) for a good few months, which i would need to do to cover legal issues and myself. I will see my local Businesslink in a few moths ... what are there rates like? AndiC

Depending on exactly what you intend to do, fac_toring may be of benefit as that will provide funding against sales invoices. It won't be of great help to you if whatever you are doing has a long lead in time which needs funding though. Edit - I don't mind the ads attaching to anything I post as long as it isn't a company that I would hesitate to recommend to anyone so I have now split the offending word up with an underscore []
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Ian