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Ards and North Down entrepreneurs receive £1m Start Up Loans

Press release 19 July 2024

Budding entrepreneurs within the bounds of Ards and North Down Borough Council local authority have received a combined £1m of support from the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme since its inception, new figures have revealed.

The Start Up Loans programme provides government-backed personal loans at a 6% fixed interest rate to individuals looking to start or grow a business.

So far, £1,011,250 has been issued to business owners across Ards and North Down through 123 loans at an average of £8,248.

A strong commitment to Northern Ireland

Across Northern Ireland, business owners have received £17m from the Start Up Loans programme through 1,895 loans. 

Entrepreneurs in the Mid Ulster District Council area have received the most funding from the programme with £2,782,650 issued across 291 loans.

In Belfast, a total of £2,270,404 has been issued across 288 loans.

The figures also show that the Start Up Loans programme has hit significant milestones in four more Northern Irish council areas.

In the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area the programme has lent £2m while in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area, £1m of financing has been reached.

The £1m mark has also been surpassed in both the Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (£1,071,817) and the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council (£1,071,817) areas.

It is encouraging to see more than £1m of Start Up Loans have been issued across Ards and North Down. The British Business Bank is focused on improving access to finance in all areas of Northern Ireland, and it is particularly pleasing to see some of our more rural areas performing well. There is great entrepreneurial spirit in this area and the Bank stands ready to support these people in fulfilling their ambition of starting their own business. We’re grateful to Enterprise Northern Ireland, our Business Support Partner, for all the work they’ve done to help us reach and support these businesses. - Susan Nightingale Director UK Network Devolved Nations, British Business Bank

See below for a full breakdown of loans across Northern Ireland

Start Up Loans in Northern Ireland

Local constituency

Loans Made

Value (£)

Mid Ulster

291

£2,782,650

Belfast

288

£2,270,404

Newry, Mourne and Down

208

£2,012,546

Fermanagh and Omagh

204

£1,897,836

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon

196

£1,796,817

Derry City and Strabane

137

£1,102,821

Lisburn and Castlereagh

118

£1,072,000

Causeway Coast and Glens

123

£1,049,617

Ards and North Down

123

£1,011,250

Antrim and Newtownabbey

86

£903,523

Mid and East Antrim

117

£893,944

In addition to finance, successful applicants are offered 12 months of free mentoring and access to business resources to help them succeed. The loan is unsecured, so there is no need to put forward any assets or guarantors to support an application.

All owners or partners in a business can individually apply for up to £25,000 each, with a maximum of £100,000 available per business.

Further Information

If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact mediaenquiries@british-business-bank.co.uk.

Notes to editors

About Start Up Loans

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 ensure that viable start-ups and early-stage businesses have 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, helping the sector to prosper, to grow and to build economic activity.

Key Statistics

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

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