£7m of finance provided to 18-24-year-old entrepreneurs in the East Midlands with Start Up Loans

Start Up Loans, part of the British Business Bank, today announces that it has provided more than £100m worth of funding to business owners aged between 18-24 years old, equating to more than 15,000 loans since the programme launched in 2012.

From that national total, £7m of funding has been provided to 1,035 businesses in the East Midlands.

New data also reveals the most entrepreneurial counties in the region. Nottinghamshire has received the highest volume of loans with 295, followed by Lincolnshire with 247 loans and Derbyshire with 215 loans.

See below for a full breakdown of loans in the East Midlands by county since 2012, including volume and value of loans.

Loans to 18 – 24 year olds in East Midlands

County

Loans Made

Value (£)

Derbyshire

215

1,277,417

Leicestershire

189

1,409,147

Lincolnshire

247

1,666,426

Northamptonshire

139

1,000,844

Nottinghamshire

295

1,973,150

Rutland (UA)

4

16,500

Of those to receive a Start Up Loan across the UK, the most popular industries to launch a business in include retail (£8.5m), hospitality (£5.8m) and arts and entertainment (£2.5m).

See below for a full breakdown of loans by regions for young people since 2012, including volume and value of loans.

Loans to 18 – 24 year olds

UK Region

Loans Made

Value (£)

East Midlands

1,035

6,982,336

East of England

1,030

7,535,476

London

3,099

23,312,528

North East

854

5,640,096

North West

1,993

14,414,500

Northern Ireland

227

1,679,440

Scotland

928

6,377,992

South East

1,291

10,383,898

South West

1,008

7,525,650

Wales

606

5,088,247

West Midlands

1,591

10,919,705

Yorkshire and The Humber

1,262

9,159,330

Region not obtained

103

1,020,800

Grand Total

15,027

110,039,996

The funding milestone comes as the Start Up Loans programme launches a new information campaign aimed at students considering entrepreneurship as a career option so they can make their business dreams a reality. The advertising campaign is running across 54 UK cities including in Cambridge, Nottingham and Leicester.

Students simply need to scan the QR code on posters and screens around their college and university campuses and surrounding area to access the information.

Creating social value

New data shows that the programme’s impact has been particularly noticeable among young entrepreneurs from across the UK, with 16.5% of all loan recipients aged 18-24 being unemployed before they got their loan.

Of all the loans distributed to entrepreneurs under 25, 39% have gone to female business owners and 24% to business owners from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Gen Z business owner supported by Start Up Loans

William Tansley, aged 24, recently received £15,000 in September 2023 as part of the Start Up Loans programme for his family-run professional cleaning and restoration business, Revive Pro.

Based in Nottingham, the business intends to use the funding to further invest in its equipment and broaden its offering for domestic and commercial properties.

William Tansley, Founder of Revive Pro, said: “My family has worked within the professional cleaning and restoration sector since the early 1990s, so I’m lucky that I’ve been able to rely on a wealth of experience and industry knowledge to get the business up and running.

“But the £15,000 Start Up Loan and the support from BizBritain whom they work with was also a major factor in making this newest venture a success by helping me obtain the latest products and equipment to provide the best outcome possible for our customers.”

Dr Sophie Dale-Black, UK Network Director for the Midlands and North of England, Start Up Loans said: “It’s amazing to see people in their late teens and early twenties with such ‘can-do’ attitudes and motivation to achieve success in working life.

“Our £100 million funding milestone is a significant landmark and testament to the hard work of Start Up Loans and its business support partners, in giving people with a good business idea like Revive Pro, the chance to access the funding needed to bring it to life. We’re determined to keep backing aspirational young people with money and mentoring.

“In the East Midlands the Start Up Loans funding is helping turn business dreams into reality. In Nottinghamshire where we’ve so far given young entrepreneurs nearly 300 loans that is lives that are being transformed and it is all through business and the help we provide. Across the region we’re supporting Gen Z business owners.”

The Start Up Loans programme helps people start or grow their business and is part of the government-owned British Business Bank’s remit to making finance markets work better for smaller businesses. They can borrow up to £25,000 at a fixed interest rate of 6% per annum and repay the loan over one to five years. The programme also provides 12 months of free business mentoring

Kevin Hollinrake, Small Business Minister said:

“Every large firm started off as a small business and today’s aspiring young entrepreneurs could be the next success story. I urge them to explore how a Start Up Loan could launch their ambitions today.

“Through the British Business Bank, and the Help to Grow campaign, we’ve backed the next generation of business leaders with over £100 million in government backed finance and we’re not stopping there.”

For more information, please visit: www.startuploans.co.uk