Start Up Loans hits £1bn milestone of loans to UK small businesses
Start Up Loans, part of the British Business Bank, has delivered more than £1bn of loans since its inception in 2012. The loans have been issued to 105,109 businesses, at an average of £9,547 per business.
Supporting under-represented groups
The Start Up Loans programme provides a means of reaching under-represented groups who are excluded from mainstream finance by helping them start businesses.
Of the £1bn loans, nearly 40% have been lent to female business owners, with a total value of £371m, and 20% have been lent to people from Black, Asian and Other Ethnic Minority backgrounds (not including White Minorities), with a value of £201m.
Just 4% of the UK’s small businesses in 2021 were majority-led by people from an ethnic minority group and only 20% of new businesses had female founders according to The Rose Review.
Backing 18-24s to start a business
Young people between 18-24 years old have received £106m (11%) in loans since the programme began.
70% of lending outside London & the South East
Of the £1bn provided to start ups, nearly 70% has gone to small businesses outside London and the South East. The top three regions receiving Start Up Loans outside of London and the South East are the North West (£121.6m), Yorkshire and the Humber (almost £90m) and the South West (almost £85m).
£1bn milestone case study: Robin Valley Jewellery, Liverpool
The business owners who received the £1bn milestone loan drawn down were Wanchong Chen and Lian Zhang, owners of Robin Valley Limited, a jewellery business based in Liverpool. Robin Valley’s wooden jewellery combines innovation, sustainability and unique design. The business serves as a wholesale supplier to prominent organisations and gift shops including the London and Marwell Zoos, Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden and the Fitzwilliam Museum. They took out a £15,000 loan to purchase machinery and pay staff wages, which allowed them to expand production.
Wanchong Chen’s advice for budding entrepreneurs looking to start a business or take their existing business to the next level is: “Have the confidence to give it a go. If you don’t try, you won’t know, and if you don’t do it someone else just might. If you’re prepared to learn on the job and learn from your mistakes, then you are well-placed to become a success.
“Start Up Loans provide life-changing funds to small business owners, who otherwise may not be able to secure funding. I used my loan to buy a new laser that is integral to creating our wooden jewellery and pay staff wages. I have huge respect for anyone who tries to start their own business and best of luck to all those who pursue their passion project”.
Richard Bearman, Managing Director, Start Up Loans said: “Start Up Loans supports people across the UK who are looking to start their own business. To hit £1bn worth of loans after 11 and a half years is a monumental achievement, not just for our business but for entrepreneurs up and down the country. The programme has supported some fantastic success stories, such as Castore, Pip and Nut and Toddle Born Wild, and helped unlock potential across the whole of the UK. The UK has entrepreneurs in every corner and our aim is to do even more going forward to help those that want to set up a business.”
Value for money to the UK taxpayer
The Start Up Loans programme has been shown to be value for money to the UK taxpayer, with an independent review showing the economic benefits of the scheme are 5.7 times the economic cost.
