A FORMER drinks company employee is toasting a sparkling new career -- thanks to a helping hand from St Helens Chamber.

When Michael Cozens was made redundant from his job as a sales manager with Carlsberg Tetley he approached the chamber's business services division for advice about setting up his own company. Now Michael and his wife Gill are employing a dozen staff at their premises, Bar Java in Westfield Street, after successfully applying for support from the new Entrepreneur KickStart initiative. This is administered by the chamber to help new businesses get established by offering grant aid and continuous support through Government funding.

Some £1 million has been allocated over a six-year period to help new businesses set up in the borough. Apart from cash grants, which range from £700 to a maximum of £4,000, recipients have access to support from business advisers and consultants for their first two years of trading.

Although Michael already had other funding to get the business underway, the KickStart grant proved invaluable in helping provide the money to purchase many of the essential items needed to get him through his first weeks of trading.

So far, around 30 companies have received financial support and advice to help them get started since the scheme was introduced in April.

Steve Mather, St Helens Chamber's new business start up advisor, said: "The key to the success of KickStart is its flexibility in the range of uses to which funding can be allocated to assist new companies, who have job creation potential, to set up in St Helens."