The Growth Accelerator scheme, aimed at businesses with a turnover of less than £40m and fewer than 50 employees, provides private sector business coaches as well as access to public management training grants of around £2,000.

The scheme aims to find companies with the highest potential for rapid success and the aim of doubling their size within three years.

Eligible companies will be selected by a team of ‘growth managers’ and assigned a coach with expertise relevant to their specific needs, which will focus on three main areas: strategic development; innovation progression and financial advice.

Selected companies are required to make a one-off payment, to take part in the programme, of £600, £1,500 or £3,000 according to whether they have less than nine, 49 or 249 employees respectively.

The programme is delivered by a consortium of private sector experts including Grant Thornton, Winning Pitch, Oxford Innovation, Pera and seven local delivery partners.

Growth Accelerator director and associate director of Grant Thornton Simon Littlewood said the programme provided direct, functional coaching related to specific commercial objectives.

"It’s not about sectors, it’s not about geography, it’s about the ambition of the business and their capability to deliver that. A lot of it is about giving people the confidence to make good business decisions," he added.

So far over 800 companies have applied to the programme, of those 15 are from print or related industries.

Direct marketing and e-fulfilment provider Hallmark Consumer Services has entered the scheme and managing director Chris Hall said it was very encouraging.

"We’ve been on similar schemes before and they haven’t been up to scratch but we have been given an excellent mentor and identified that we want to grow through innovation and sales process," he explained.

The Melton Mowbray-based firm has 50 employees and a turnover of £4m; Hall said decline in the postal market meant it was looking for coaching to help it compete and grow in the e-commerce market.

"We want to develop innovation in our processes like personalisation options for our product and improved delivery options for customers," he added.

"We are looking for a short, sharp few months with our mentor and at the end we will prioritise our ideas and develop an action plan to get one or two of them moving."

The initiative coincides with the launch of another government initiative this week aimed at encouraging 16 and 24-year olds in England to start their own businesses.

The StartUp Loan Scheme will provide personal loans of up to £2,500, repayable over three to five years at a fixed APR of 3% plus RPI – currently 3.5%.

Budding entrepreneurs can apply with their business plans from this week with successful applicants receiving support from a range of providers including the Prince’s Trust, the Economic Solutions Group and the Forum of Private Businesses (FPB).

Chief executive Phil Orford said: "We need this alternative choice for young people who aren’t going to college or university and who may see entrepreneurship as a better choice for them."