A BURY businessman is on a quest to support and encourage a new wave of entrepreneurs.

Josh McNicholas is offering a free website and free hosting for 12 months to an innovative start-up in the vicinity of the town centre.

His gesture is being made to help boost the business economy of Bury.

The 23-year-old, who runs his own Visual Loves website design studio at the Ela Mill business complex in Wash Lane, explained: "I champion local business in Bury and I am a small business owner. Every day, walking to my office in Bury town centre, I see so many shop units to let or with closing down sales.

"Some people may see this as a sign of the decline Bury has seen in recent years, apart from The Rock. But I see it as a sign that it is time for a new wave of entrepreneurs to take the wheel and drive Bury forward.

"I own Visual Loves, a website design studio that is dedicated to supporting small and medium sized firms and as part of our Visual Loves community mission, we want to make Bury beautiful.

To achieve this, and to support new business in Bury, we are offering a free website and one year's hosting to an innovative start-up."

He continued: "The criteria is that the owner should be below the age of 25 and that their business is breathing new life back into Bury. The other criteria is that it shouldn't be another clothes shop as we have a lot of these already. We are looking to promote this opportunity and encourage young people to build a thriving start-up community in Bury."

The former Castlebrook High School pupil was involved in freelance graphic design work before launching his own company last November. Visual Loves has one full-time employee and Josh also has a pool of freelancers.

However, it isn't just businesses that have benefited from Josh's free website set-ups.

He added: "My Visual Loves community mission actively goes out to find local good causes who might need a bit of help and we have assisted community groups and small charities. I feel it's important to give something back to the community."

Anyone with a new start-up who would like be considered for the free website and 12-months hosting offer should visit buildingbury.co.uk