Car delivery firm taps in to £9k of council support to back growth plan

EC Logistics, which has its head office in Halesowen and facilities in Lye and Coleshill just off the M42, has tapped into near £9k of specialist support and funding from Business Growth West Midlands in Dudley to help it purchase two Brian James trailers to create a 10-strong fleet.

Business Growth West Midlands in Dudley, which is funded by Dudley Council via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, says it's supporting more than 600 companies based in the borough with advice from local Business Growth Advisers.

“The last twelve months are certainly a far cry from when we first started, ploughing initial investment into EC Logistics only to have the pandemic hit us three months later," said Ed Chambers, Managing Director.

“Things literally stopped overnight, but because we were a logistics business, we were eventually told we could still operate and thankfully things came back online within nine months, and we’ve just got busier and busier.”

“I’ve been involved in the automotive sector for 20 plus years, so have put all this experience into creating the most exceptional delivery service - after all we’re often making the customer’s day when we drop off their new car. I’ll never take that for granted.”

EC Logistics has ambitious plans to expand by a further 25% over the next twelve months and this meant extending its fleet of trailers to ten.

The company turned to Business Growth West Midlands in Dudley, who put it in touch with Business Growth Adviser Steve Dunn to help with financial forecasting and to identity potential funding options.

He encouraged the husband-and-wife management team to engage with Business Adviser Helen Fortune on the Investment Readiness Programme and this proved pivotal in helping them navigate the application process and securing a £8900 capital grant from Dudley Council.

“EC Logistics is a fantastic example of the enterprising nature we have in the Black Country, and I’m really pleased to see that the grant funding has been put to such good use – helping it boost sales and create new jobs," he said.

“I know that Ed has exciting plans to head towards £2m in turnover and this should involve eight new roles and the purchase of an additional site in the West Midlands. We are supporting this by finding them a space on the High Growth Programme.”

Run by Oxford Innovation Advice, the Business Growth West Midlands in Dudley initiative delivers an information, diagnostic, brokerage, and account management service to support local businesses to thrive, innovate, and grow, whilst also supporting entrepreneurs to progress their business ideas. 

A special focus is placed on helping firms in key local sectors and engaging with harder to reach groups, such as women-led and ethnic minority-led businesses.