Coles has announced a $50 million Nurture Fund to help small Australian growers, manufacturers and food and grocery producers to innovate and develop their businesses.
Coles says it will use the Nurture Fund to allocate grants and interest-free loans over five years to businesses with less than $25 million in annual revenue and 50 or fewer full-time employees.
Small businesses can use the money to invest in the development of new market-leading products, technologies and processes to improve their operations.
“The Coles Nurture Fund is one way we can offer support and encouragement to small Australian businesses looking for assistance to take the next step in creating more productive and innovative ways of working,” Coles managing director John Durkan said.
“Coles wants to hear exciting and ambitious plans from smaller entrepreneurs about how they can deliver new and better product to customers, or about ideas they have for innovative business systems that will improve how they get product to market. Modest financial support can make the difference in getting great ideas up and running.”
