I was very pleased to receive this letter this morning detailing the help that has been give to help start new businesses in Great Grimby. If anyone needs more details of the scheme, then please don't hesitate to contact me.
As MP for Great Grimsby, I am delighted to let you know that the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans scheme has passed an important milestone of having issued 75,000 loans.
In total, the Government-backed scheme has lent more than £623m, with an average loan size of just over £8000, to small businesses across the UK.
In Great Grimsby specifically, Start Up Loans has issued 96 loans worth £601,840.
Start Up Loans was established in 2012 with a mission to help new and early stage UK businesses access affordable finance and mentoring support. The scheme has had a transformative impact on the lives of thousands of individuals, often those under-represented in the business community. The British Business Bank is proud that Start Up Loans has lent money to people in every part of the countryand its impact has been particularly noticeable in areas of deprivation.
Of the people who received a loan since 2012:
· One in five (20%) loan recipients come from BAME backgrounds
· Two in five (40%) loan recipients are women
· One in three (33%) were unemployed when they applied for a loan
Start Up Loans saw a significant rise in loans issued since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic in the UK. May to July 2020 saw a total of £31.9m of funding drawn down, compared to £22.9m in the same period of the previous year, an increase of more than 39%. July has been the record month for drawdowns since 2014, as restrictions eased and businesses started to re-open their doors to customers.
The 75,000th Start Up Loan recipient was Helen Conway, from South Wales. Helen took out a loan this month to pay for the equipment and premises to open a new bakery. You can find out more about her case study story here.
To find out more about the impact Start Up Loans is having across the country, please visit the website.
If you would like more information, or a meeting to discuss the work of Start Up Loans and the British Business Bank in your constituency, please contact me on stuart.macnaughtan@british-business-bank.co.uk.
Kind regards,
Stuart
Stuart Macnaughtan
Public Affairs and Government Relations Manager