Business Bank loans reach £85 million in South West
A community interest company is urging others with an idea to consider trying the bank
Around £85-million of loans have now gone to start-up businesses in our region - with one in five to people from an ethnic minority.
That’s according to the Government’s British Business Bank, which started in 2012.
Here in Devon, the Plymouth-based not-for-profit ‘pets and Picasso’ was lent £25,000 earlier this Summer
Anna Corwood says it’s allowing them to offer animal and art therapy to locals struggling with health conditions.
Anna Corwood said she turned to the Start Up Loans programme because other lenders could not help her.
“I looked around for a while but because I didn’t have any accounts in place," she said.
"I was told that there was nothing anybody could do to help us. Then I remembered seeing something online about the British Business Bank, so we got in touch.
“The Start Up loan scheme is really valuable for people like us who want to turn their ideas into a reality. We’re really excited about Pets and Picasso. We’ve had so much positive feedback from people already and we’re just ready and waiting to move things forward.”
The community interest company, 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.
Anna, a district nurse, has spent years working in the community looking after her patients, many of whom have dementia or need end-of-life-care. She has seen first-hand how family pets and contact with animals can bring comfort and joy to people when they are at their lowest ebb.
She is using the Start Up Loan finance to help fund new enclosures and living spaces in her converted home for Pets and Picasso’s growing collection of animals including three cats, eight rabbits, seven guinea pigs, ten mice, four rats, a tortoise and even a corn snake.
The plan is to provide an outreach service to local residents, schools and care homes before eventually looking for premises to set up a dedicated Pets and Picasso centre in Plymouth, Devon.
Steve Conibear, UK Network Director South West at the British Business Bank said: “We’re delighted that the Start Up Loans programme has supported so many business owners across the South West.
"It’s clear that the region has a thriving entrepreneurial culture based on how many loans we’ve made to start up businesses stretching from the Isles of Scilly to Bristol and beyond.
"The South West seems to punch above its weight in the national picture with more finance supporting businesses than in all of Scotland or Wales or the West Midlands. Each business owner supported with Start Up Loans finance and mentoring is someone who is pursuing their dream and that’s great to see.”
Small Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “Across the UK, thousands of small businesses have now been supported by over a billion pounds in Start Up Loans.
“This crucial support is enabling enterprising companies like Pets and Picasso start and scale up their ventures and I urge even more to follow in their footsteps.”
The Start Up Loans programme provides a means of 'reaching under-represented groups who are excluded from mainstream finance by helping them start businesses'.
Of the loans to make up £1bn, nearly 40% have been lent to female business owners, with a total value of £371m, and 20% have been lent to people from Black, Asian and Other Ethnic Minority backgrounds (not including White Minorities), with a value of £201m.
Just 4% of the UK’s small businesses in 2021 were majority-led by people from an ethnic minority group and only 20% of new businesses had female founders according to The Rose Review.