AN ENGINEERING firm is looking for a 'Guardian angel' to steer it to a bright future.

Billinge Light Engineering - believed to be the only Asian light engineering firm in East Lancashire - is the latest business to sign up with the Blackburn Partnership Guardian Angel scheme.

The scheme matches fledgling firms with experienced business managers.

The idea is that the mentor guides the small business through their growth period.

"This firm presents a real challenge to a Guardian Angel and we are looking for someone who could offer their expertise," said Ian Rigby, manager of the scheme which now operates across East Lancashire and the Fylde and Blackpool areas.

Billinge Light Engineering was set up in 1998 by six friends and is now based at Glenfield Park, Blackburn. The firm carries out precision engineering and fabrication and its latest order is to manufacture secrity shutters for the windows of a Blackburn mosque.

"We are very unusual in that we are an Asian engineering company and that poses both positive and negative issues," said Salim Mulla, head of the company and also a councillor for the Queens Park ward in the town.

"We would find it extremely useful to have some input from someone who has 'been there and done that' in the business world, which is why we put ourselves forward for the Guardian Angel scheme."

Anyone interesting in becoming a Guardian Angel or interested in the scheme in general should contact Ian Rigby on 01254 661166.

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