Grass is greener for leading Yorkshire recruitment company

A leading West Yorkshire sales and senior management recruitment company has been given the green light for its expansion plans, thanks to funding from Finance Yorkshire.

Stansfield International Ltd, which trades under the name GrassGreener Group™, is currently based at Leeds and Bradford Road in Leeds.

The funding package, a co-investment between Finance Yorkshire and Yorkshire Bank, has allowed GrassGreener Group™ to add four new staff members to its ranks, with a further four to be employed by the end of the year – doubling staff levels compared to the start of 2013.

The Finance Yorkshire Business Loan will also go towards an expansion of its current office space in Leeds next year.

Plamen Ivanoff, Executive Chairman at GrassGreener Group™, said: “The investment from Finance Yorkshire will make our expansion plans for the future possible.

“Having already secured funding from Yorkshire Bank, the extra funding from Finance Yorkshire will now allow us to grow in the way we have imagined.

“Finance Yorkshire really understood our requirements from the very start, and the whole process of making an application for funding was very easy, simple and straightforward. They shared in our vision for the business and were extremely supportive; they really are a unique company in the finance sector.

“In an industry such as recruitment that has struggled in the last few years, at GrassGreener Group™ we have increased turnover by at least ten per cent in all but one of the years since our formation in 2007.

"I’m delighted that Finance Yorkshire has rewarded our hard work with this investment.”

Martin Bell, Corporate Director of RedSky, introduced GrassGreener Group™ to Finance Yorkshire, and they were immediately impressed with the company’s potential.

Ian Atkinson, Finance Yorkshire’s Investment Manager, said: “We could see from the quality and experience of GrassGreener Group’s™ management team that this was a good investment for Finance Yorkshire.

“With our funding, the company will be able to grow and create more jobs, with an expansion on its existing premises also on the horizon.

“We continue to be impressed with their vision and we hope to continue to support them for many years to come.”

Finance Yorkshire provides seedcorn, loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to meet their funding requirements for growth and development.

The project is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £30million investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme, £15million from Yorkshire Forward’s Single Programme, and £45million match funding from the European Investment Bank.

For more information on GrassGreener Group™ visit www.grassgreener.co.uk or for details about Finance Yorkshire go to www.finance-yorkshire.com or ring 0845 649 0000.

Note: this news article is from Finance Yorkshire’s previous fund. Read more about Finance Yorkshire