StartUp Loans scheme receives 2,000 applications from young entrepreneurs

Start-Up Loans Company’s £10m pilot scheme is underway, with applications from 2,000 young business minds already received.

Launched at MADE festival, the pilot scheme pre-empts the £82.5m government-backed initiative, which promises loans over the next three years to support people aged 18-24 to start a business.

Celebrating the first recipients of the funding at Church House, Westminster on October 3, former BBC Dragon and Chairman James Caan announced a further £50m worth of support from corporates including eBay, PayPal and Metro Bank.

In support of the scheme, which offers individual loans of up to £2,500, national enterprise campaign, StartUp Britain is launching a month-long bus tour, designed to inspire young people to sign up.

Carrying a team of business experts, mentors, authors and entrepreneurs, the bus will travel to 40 colleges and universities across the UK, offering students the chance to apply to the scheme from the vehicle.

Caan urges all young entrepreneurs to sign up to the start-up boosting initiative: “Start-Up Loans Company aims to stimulate entrepreneurship across England and highlight starting a business as a viable career option for young people.

“I know from personal experience both how exciting and challenging it is to start a business but with the mentoring advice we provide and the corporate support we have from Regus and PayPal we can make a huge difference to these new businesses. “I encourage everyone aged 18-24 to apply and see where their business idea can take them.”