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Start Up Loans reaches £2 million of support for Dundonian entrepreneurs

Press release 14 August 2023

Bouldering gym among 225 smaller businesses climbing to success after funding.

Business owners in Dundee have now received over £2 million of funding since the launch of the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme, delivering 225 loans to entrepreneurs in the city.

Since 2012, a range of business owners have received an average of £9,229 to pursue their dreams of starting their own business. In addition to financial assistance, the Start Up Loans programme also delivers post loan support in areas such as marketing, business development and business plan writing.

The Start Up Loans programme aims to help entrepreneurs and business owners across the country get access to funding – particularly those from typically under-represented groups.

Of the Start Up Loans offered to entrepreneurs in Dundee, 34% have gone to female founders – a significantly higher proportion than the 22% of Scotland’s smaller businesses 1 that are female-led 2 . Nearly four in ten (38%) of the loans have also supported business owners under the age of 30, helping young people to take their first steps into entrepreneurship.

One business owner in Dundee to benefit from the Start Up Loans programme is Gavin Christie, who decided to turn his rock-climbing passion into a full-time business venture.

Gavin opened Block10, Dundee’s first gym dedicated solely to bouldering, with a £25,000 Start Up Loan. The funding helped him to lease a property in the city and build a 558m2 bouldering wall. Block10’s initial success means he is looking to expand to a potential second location in the future.

It’s a huge milestone for our Start Up Loans programme to deliver more than £2 million of financing to help small businesses in Dundee.

New businesses, like Block10, bring a lot of value to the Scottish economy and the local communities in which they’re based. It’s great to see how Gavin’s business is booming, providing a space for people from Dundee and beyond to enjoy.

Through our network of Business Support Partners, we are continuing to help entrepreneurs with business plans, accounting, marketing and more, and look forward to working with more business owners in Dundee in the future.

Barry McCulloch Senior Manager, UK Network, Scotland, at the British Business Bank

Since Block10 opened, the gym has grown steadily to over 350 members. Last year, we had 40,000 people using the gym including repeat visitors. We’ve also recently secured a partnership with Red Bull, which is very exciting, and I’m looking to open a second location further down the line.

I can’t overstate how valuable the support and funding from the Start Up Loans programme has been. I pulled all my savings together to start Block10, but it wasn’t enough, so the funding was essential for opening the gym. The overall level of funding support in Dundee shows just how well it is helping entrepreneurs like me succeed in our new business endeavours.

Gavin Christie Block10

Further Information

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Notes to editors

About Start up Loans

The Start Up Loans programme is part of the British Business Bank. DSL Business Finance is the Business Support Partner for the programme delivering loans to businesses across Scotland.

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 help viable start-ups and early-stage businesses have better 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, in the hope of helping the sector to prosper, to grow and to build economic activity.

Key Statistics

  1. Since its inception in 2012, the Start Up Loans programme has delivered over 105,000 loans, providing more than £1bn of funding.
  2. In the financial year 2022/23, the Start Up Loans programme provided 9,549 loans with a total value of approximately £120m.
  3. The economic benefits of the Start Up Loans programme are almost six (5.7) times its economic costs.
  4. 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).

The Start-Up Loans Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of British Business Bank plc. It is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, registration number 08117656, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. British Business Bank plc is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. They are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at british-business-bank.co.uk.

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