Government-backed small business support hits milestone

A noodle shop in Hertfordshire is the 100,000th recipient of support from the Government’s Start Up Loans programme.

More than £940m has been handed out to small businesses since the programme was launched in 2012.

Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “We know how important small businesses are to our communities, creating jobs, growth and opportunities, and that is why we are backing them all the way to not only start up, but to scale up.

“As a former business owner, I know how difficult it can be to get your business off the ground, which is why I’m incredibly proud that Government-backed Start Up Loans have helped 100,000 aspiring entrepreneurs, from Shetland to Shoreditch, to make their dreams a reality.”

UK-wide support

The scheme, administered by the British Business Bank, offers financial support, guidance and advice to entrepreneurs looking to start their own business.

From the 100,000 loans, 40 per cent have gone to women and one-in-five to people from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds.

Meanwhile, young people (aged between 18 and 24 years old) have received 14 per cent of loans.

The success of the Start Up Loans scheme has been felt nationwide, with new and exciting businesses across the country using them to establish and grow.

The top five local authorities by loan volume and value are Birmingham, Leeds, Cornwall, Hackney in East London and Manchester.

With 12,382 loans in the North-West, 7,117 in the East of England, 5,616 in the East Midlands and 1,539 in Northern Ireland, as well as many more across all parts of the United Kingdom, the Start Up Loans scheme has seen the entire UK benefit, with total economic activity estimated to be around £5.3 billion.

Start up, scale up

Richard Bearman, Managing Director, Start Up Loans said: “Start Up Loans supports people across the UK who are looking to start their own businesses and passing our 100,000 loan milestone is an amazing achievement that has been ten years in the making.

“We could not have achieved this without the dedicated support of our network of UK delivery partners and in-house team, and I’d like to take this chance to thank them for everything they do to make our work possible.”

The Government is not only supporting businesses to start up, but to scale up too. The Start Up Loans scheme was recently expanded to provide finance to eligible businesses operating for up to five years to support their expansion. The Business Secretary Grant Shapps also recently announced a ‘Scale-up Summit’ to bring together key technology, development and finance figures who have accelerated businesses from start-ups to scale-ups.

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