Success stories

Moko Physiotherapy, a Derbyshire based physiotherapy and sports massage clinic, has secured £30,000 funding from First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans, under the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme, to refurbish its new premises.

Aimee Plumb, founder of Cambridge Hydrotherapy Centre, is a Start Up Loans recipient. In October 2021, Aimee took out a loan of £2,500 via Norfolk & Waveney Enterprise Services when she was 19 years old. The company, based in Great Abington in Cambridge, offers hydrotherapy for dogs, to help them through the rehabilitation process by building muscle and easing pain.

Juliet Chibasa borrowed £3,000 in June 2023 to grow Lassad Care Services. Lassad Care Services, based in Chelmsford, is a domiciliary care business that offers a range of services for the elderly, children, and young adults, including personal care, light cleaning, attending appointments and day centres, walks, holidays, meals, and family support.

Pets and Picasso received a £25,000 loan in June this year. The community interest company (CIC), set up by Anna Corwood and her partner Luke Gash, aims to provide animal and art assisted therapy to local people living with a wide range of health conditions.

Chloe Bruce took out a loan of £12,500 to launch the Chloe Bruce Academy in 2020, a business offering virtual martial arts classes and tutorials.

Alice Wu, founder of Peace and Pure, took out her loan of £19,000 in 2020 to start the business.

Siblings Albert, Betty and Minnie Alexander took out a loan of £22,000 in 2021 to launch Kitty’s Herbery, a perfumery based in Bude, Cornwall.

Emma Andralojc took out a loan in 2019 to launch The Nail and Beauty Nerd, a beauty salon based in Harrogate.

Whitley Bay-based supplier of organic seaweed products Seaweed & Co, is a recipient of the Start Up Loans programme.

Dhruvin Patel took out a Start Up Loan of £500 through business support partner Virgin StartUp in 2015 to start his business Ocushield, an innovative line of products designed to protect eyes from the harmful blue light emitted by screens.

Bilbo’s Pet Spa is based in Lydney, Gloucestershire and is run by Marion Aylott. Marion received a Start Up Loan of £22,000 in October 2016 and opened in December of the same year.

Lifeline24 is a national telecare provider based in Norwich which supplies personal alarms to frail, elderly and disabled people living across the United Kingdom. The business was founded by Simon and his wife Treena after they noticed a gap in the market for an affordable personal alarm service which can be relied upon for excellent customer service. This arose from Simon’s position in a charity which he worked for after leaving the City of London. During his time there he had become frustrated at the amount of red tape and inflexibility of the organization.

HelenMarie provides personal training and pilates through her company HMW Personal Training, which she started in October 2014.

Lara Sengupta is the founder and owner of CorkYogis, a right corker of a social enterprise. Situated just off the renowned Lordship Lane in East Dulwich, they make and sell as the name would suggest – yoga mats made out of cork.

Rumbi Serima-Fowler started her business Mimi’s Organics in 2014 after struggling to find products to suit the skin of her son, who suffers from numerous allergies.

Providing two state of the art i-sopods, a therapy room, quiet room and space for yoga and pilates, Floating Point Float Centre is Berkshire’s only dedicated floatation therapy centre.

Goji Hair is an exclusive, organic hair salon in the Pontcanna suburb of Cardiff, started by Victoria Griffin.

Peter Chulu received a Start Up Loan in 2013 to help develop his global market research service company, Field Scope International Ltd. Peter provides healthcare research for pharmaceutical companies in the big 5 EU markets (Germany, Spain, England, France and Italy).