At the end of July, the Start Up Loans scheme announced they had provided more than £100 million to entrepreneurs wanting to set up their own business.
We were especially pleased to see that the 20,000th loan was given to a 55-year-old portrait artist. Melissa Mailer-Yates is going to use the funds to start Shakespuss, a service to help people learn and enjoy the works of Shakespeare through animated characters.
Start Up Loans was first established by Lord Young, the Prime Minister’s Enterprise Advisor, and was created within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Originally you had to be between 18 and 30 to apply for a loan, but the age-cap has since been removed and to date, there have been £110,086,603 worth of loan offers to entrepreneurs, with an average value of £5,300.
Start Up Loans have also announced they are organising the Big Start Up Loans Competition 2014 and are calling for entrepreneurs to share their business stories. There are lots of prizes up for grabs and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.is on-hand to assist with award entries.
If you’re interested in getting some finance for your business, PRIME has some information on the website around how to access a Start Up Loan.