An interest free loan from the Isle of Wight Lottery made all the difference for Isle of Wight Biltong.
The company’s future growth hinged on acquisition of a packaging machine, and it had already had a grant application approved by DEFRA. But the grant depended on matched funding.
Sarah Greeff, of Isle of Wight Biltong – which produces nutritional ‘safari snacks’ made from Island beef – said: “We had tried other sources of finance, but have always been active members of the Chamber of Commerce, and decided to approach the Isle of Wight Lottery for support.
“We are delighted we did – the machine is now installed and gives us huge potential for growth because of the speed of operation. The air tight seal it gives our products means they have a much longer shelf life, too, which makes us more attractive to big distributors, supermarkets and wholesalers.
“It is a big step forward for us. We are a very small company, and the Lottery loan comes with the support of a business mentor, so in the end it was a no brainer for us!”
Isle of Wight Biltong was recently Highly Commended in the Rural Start Up Category of the Countryside Alliance Awards. The snacks are distributed by Medina Food Service, and sold in the Local Flavours range of Southern Co-op on the Island, and in their Bramber House shop on the Sussex University campus. The company also supplies the Hampshire county cricket team.
For more information, go to isleofwightbiltong.co.uk
