Start up loans pass £7m milestone
MORE than £7m start up loans have gone to upwards of 1,200 entrepreneurs across the North West as part of a Government initiative.
Business Finance Solutions is celebrating the milestone after June saw the largest combined start up loan granted to a business in the region since the programme launched in November 2012.
The milestone was reached when Carl Morris and Laura Morris received a loan totalling £50,000 to launch a Yard & Coop – a casual dining restaurant and bar in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
The duo with nearly 30 years’ experience working in the bar and hospitality industry approached BFS earlier in the year with a vision to open Manchester’s first fried chicken bar and restaurant, based around a secret recipe.
Paul Breen, director of Business Finance Solutions said: “Reaching this £7m loan milestone in the North West is a huge achievement in both supporting 1,200 entrepreneurs to start their own businesses and also for our Start Up Loans team.
“Every one of the businesses that we are able to support generates a ripple effect of growth that runs through the people they are able to employ, the suppliers they will be using, the clients they are servicing and the overall boost to their local areas and industries.”
The £7m milestone comes as Prime Minister David Cameron announced earlier this month that the government has met its target of making 30,000 loans to entrepreneurs nationally through the £310m Start Up Loans initiative that provides repayable loans, together with mentoring and other business support.
BFS Start Up Loans says it will see £15 million allocated to new start-ups across the North West over the next two years, creating around 3,000 new businesses and more than 5,000 new jobs in the region.
