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Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurs receive £17m in Start Up Loans

Press release 19 July 2024

Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurial spirit is progressing as new figures show the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme has delivered £17million in funding to support start up and early-stage businesses across the region.

Since 2012, business owners in Northern Ireland have received £17m from the programme with 1,895 loans.

Entrepreneurs in the Mid Ulster District Council area have received the most funding from the programme with £2,782,650 issued across 291 loans.

In Belfast, a total of £2,270,404 has been issued across 288 loans.

The figures also show that the Start Up Loans programme has hit significant milestones in five of Northern Ireland’s local council areas.

In Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area, the programme has recently reached the milestone of providing £2m of finance to business owners.

Four other local authority areas in Northern Ireland have reached the £1m milestone. These are: Derry City and Strabane District Council, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, and the Ards and North Down Borough Council.

Another milestone is also on the horizon as figures show nearly £2m of finance has been provided to businesses in Fermanagh and Omagh District Council region.

It is encouraging to see these milestones being hit across Northern Ireland. The British Business Bank is focused on improving access to finance in all areas of Northern Ireland, so it is particularly pleasing to see entrepreneurs in some of our more rural areas seeking support. We’re grateful to Enterprise Northern Ireland, our Business Support Partner, for all the work they’ve done to help us reach and support these businesses. Susan Nightingale Director UK Network Devolved Nations, British Business Bank

See below for a full breakdown of loans across Northern Ireland

Start Up Loans in Northern Ireland

Local constituency

Loans Made

Value (£)

Mid Ulster

291

£2,782,650

Belfast

288

£2,270,404

Newry, Mourne and Down

208

£2,012,546

Fermanagh and Omagh

204

£1,897,836

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon

196

£1,796,817

Derry City and Strabane

137

£1,102,821

Lisburn and Castlereagh

118

£1,072,000

Causeway Coast and Glens

123

£1,049,617

Ards and North Down

123

£1,011,250

Antrim and Newtownabbey

86

£903,523

Mid and East Antrim

117

£893,944

In addition to finance, successful applicants receive 12 months of free mentoring and access to business resources to help them succeed. The loan is unsecured, so there is no need to put forward any assets or guarantors to support an application.

All owners or partners in a business can individually apply for up to £25,000 each, with a maximum of £100,000 available per business.

Further Information

If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact [email protected].

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 £120m.
  • 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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