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British Business Bank announces changes to the delivery of Start up Loans in Wales

Press release 05 December 2023

The British Business Bank today announces changes to the future delivery of its Start Up Loans programme for businesses in Wales.

From 24 February 2024, working in partnership with Business in Focus as an affiliate of the Start Up Loans programme, the Bank will be providing pre-loan support directly to Welsh businesses.

This initiative brings together Business in Focus extensive experience and networks with the Bank’s direct partnerships within the Welsh business support ecosystem. The initiative will combine these relationships with an internal British Business Bank team of Business Advisors who will be dedicated to furthering Wales’ dynamic business economy by supporting and increasing the number of startup businesses accessing early-stage funding.

Where recruitment opportunities for the programme become available, the Bank will seek to draw from a pool of candidates that include Welsh-speaking Business Advisors and Loan Approvers.

I would like to thank Business in Focus for successfully delivering the service in Wales for the past ten years, and am grateful for their support going forward. We are looking forward to building on their work to deliver vital startup capital and support to Welsh businesses through our programme over the coming months. Richard Bearman Managing Director, Small Business Lending at the British Business Bank

In partnership with the British Business Bank and The Start-Up Loans Company, Business in Focus has delivered the Start Up Loans programme in Wales for over 10 years. Over that time, the more than £47.2m loaned to Welsh businesses has helped many to grow, to diversify and to transform their prospects of success. We are now working with the British Business Bank on a re-designed model of delivery – one that matches the changing needs of our client base and is relevant for the next 10 years.

We are extremely proud of what the Start Up Loans programme has achieved. I would like to thank all the brilliant Business in Focus experts who have delivered this transformational service and the more than 4,600 entrepreneurs who put their faith in us to help them succeed and to release their entrepreneurial potential through the programme.

Phil Jones Chief Executive, Business in Focus

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Notes to editors

About Start Up Loans

The Start Up Loans programme provides personal loans for business purposes of up to £25,000 at a 6% fixed interest rate per annum and offers free dedicated mentoring and support to each business.

The primary aim of the Start Up Loans programme is to ensure that viable start-ups and early-stage businesses have access to the finance and support they need in order to thrive. A network of Business Support Partner organisations supports applicants in all regions and industries throughout the UK. The Start Up Loans programme is not designed to generate a commercial profit. Capital payments together with the interest are recycled to help meet borrowers’ increasing demands for finance.

Free guides on a range of subjects related to starting a business and recent media press releases are available on the Start Up Loans website.

The funding for the Start Up Loans programme is provided by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). A development bank wholly government-owned by DBT, the British Business Bank plc is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such.

The British Business Bank makes finance markets for smaller businesses work better, helping the sector to prosper, to grow and to build economic activity.

Key Statistics

  • Since its inception in 2012, the Start Up Loans scheme has delivered over 105,000 loans, providing more than £1bn of funding.
  • In the financial year 2022/23, the scheme provided 9,549 loans with a total value of approximately £
  • The economic benefits of the Start Up Loans programme are almost six (5.7) times its economic costs.
  • At Spending Review 2021, the Chancellor announced resources to provide 33,000 Start Up Loans over next three years.

Aside from the return-on-investment numbers these statistics are gross estimates and based on Start Up Loans CRM along with externally commissioned research undertaken by SQW Ltd, with support from BMG Research.

Since 2012, 31% of loans went to people formerly unemployed or economically inactive. 40% of loan recipients were women and 20% were from ethnic minority groups (not including white minorities).

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