Current business support projects


Prosper Business Support Logo

Are you an entrepreneur or business in East Devon, Exeter or Mid Devon with ambitions to start or develop your business? Proper is here to help!

Prosper is a fully funded business support programme providing a mixture of online support and in-person one-to-one sessions or workshops offering:

  • support with running a business,
  • help to improve energy efficiency and become more environmentally sustainable,
  • support to start a new business and,
  • support for businesses looking to take on additional staff.

Support is being delivered by Business Information Point (BIP) and Cosmic, both of whom have a wealth of knowledge and local experience.

The programme, which runs until March 2025, is funded by East Devon, Mid Devon and Exeter City councils through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

To access the support, please complete the sign up form on the Growth Hub website.

Prosper is funded by the UK Government and is receiving up to £569,422 of Shared Prosperity Funding. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is the Managing authority for these funds.

Funded by UK Government logo and Levelling Up logo

Future Farming Resilience Logo

Devon County Council has been awarded Defra funding to deliver a scaled up phase of the Future Farming Resilience programme, providing free, expert advice to help farmers across the Great South West (Devon, Cornwall and IOS, Dorset and Somerset) to transition from Direct Basic Payments (BPS) toward the government’s new Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes.

Support available includes:

  • information workshops to understand the agricultural transition,
  • one to one bespoke support from Agri-Advisors,
  • specialist workshops addressing a range of themes including farm succession planning, grant schemes and business diversification,
  • digital workshops to help build digital confidence.
  • Rural Support and Wellbeing mental health awareness workshops.

Find out more about the Future Farming Resilience Project.

Devon Agri Tech Alliance Logo

The Devon Agri-Tech Alliance, which launched in 2022, aims to support Devon’s agricultural sector by facilitating a community farmers, tech companies, research organisations and other agricultural businesses to enable knowledge exchange and opportunities for collaboration.

Intensive Agri-Innovation

The Intensive Agri-Innovation programme aims to support 40 farm businesses in the South Hams and West Devon to maximise their potential through regenerative and innovative practices.

The scheme, which runs until March 2025, is fully funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and support is being delivered by Business Information Point (BIP). All support will be tailored to each individual farm business. Farmers participating in the programme can also access specialist support worth up to £2,000.

Agri-Events

The Agri-Events series, funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, focuses on developing the Agri-tech Alliance and engaging farmers in Mid Devon, East Devon, West Devon and the South Hams. There will be four workshops in each district up until March 2025.

Each workshop will have a focus most relevant to the respective district and will be selected based on feedback from the farming community and specific challenges and opportunities identified within the sector.

We will soon be releasing our Agri-Events for the four districts on Eventbrite, follow us to stay up to date!

Funded by UK Government logo and Levelling Up logo

made in devon logo

Made in Devon is a ‘buy-local’ scheme promoting the sales and consumption of bona fide Devon products and services.

Businesses who apply go through a valuable audit process to check they are legally compliant and that their products or services are ‘Made in Devon’. Once they’ve passed this, they earn official ‘Trading Standards Approved’ accreditation and have access to ongoing support. They also take part in exciting promotional opportunities and become part of a network of like-minded businesses.

Made in Devon is part of the national Buy With Confidence scheme which gives consumers the reassurance they are buying from local, legal and honest companies.

Devon Food Partnership logo

The Devon Food Partnership is a joint initiative which seeks to enable collaboration and communication across Devon’s food and farming sector.

The Partnership brings together key stakeholders from across the county around a vision for a better food system in which nutritious, local, sustainably produced food is available and affordable for all. Its Good Food Strategy 2023-2028 identifies the key priorities for Devon’s food system.

Since 2021, the Devon Food Partnership has been a member of Sustainable Food Places (SFP) and is committed to working across the six key issues identified by SFP. Find out more on the Devon Food Partnership website.

Sustainable Food Places is a partnership programme run by the Soil Association, Food Matters and Sustain. It is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The National Lottery Community Fund.

Sustainable Food Places logos

devon delivers

Looking for a place where you and your business can thrive? Whether you’re expanding or relocating, it’s time to explore! Free advice and support.

Our Economic Development Officers, in each location, will be able to offer free advice and support on a range of topics including:

  • sources of finance and business grants
  • business locations, premises and business parks in the area
  • commercial property services and recommended search engines
  • relevant business support services
  • links to relevant local business contacts

Register Your Interest detailing the nature of your enquiry and we will ensure you receive a response from a member of our team. Please ensure you leave us your email address so we can get in touch with you.

For general enquires, our Devon Delivers central team can assist and guide you to the right support devon.delivers@devon.gov.uk.


trading standards

Avoid rogue traders and support those who’ve publicly committed to operating in a legal, honest and fair way by using Buy With Confidence Trading Standards Approved businesses.

All the businesses have been vetted, approved and continue to be monitored to help ensure you receive a quality service. Businesses are only included once they’ve completed a series of stringent checks, including a visit by a qualified Trading Standards professional.