Entrepreneurship Thriving in Birmingham

The Start Up Loans Company delivers £8 million to micro-businesses in the city

Birmingham is home to a growing number of entrepreneurs, according to new figures from the Start Up Loans Company, which show that its scheme has lent over £8 million to small businesses in the city since it launched seven years ago.

The figures suggest that entrepreneurship is thriving in the area, with over 1,300 aspiring business owners turning to the Government-backed scheme to help realise their ambition of becoming their own boss since 2012.

One of these business owners was Lyndsey Tidmarsh, who set up the West Midlands Nail and Beauty Academy in The Custard Factory, Birmingham, in 2015 after receiving a £6,500 loan from the Start Up Loans Company. The business provides training for budding nail and beauty therapists and aims to help its students secure the best opportunities in the beauty industry.

Prior to launching the academy, Lyndsey worked at two colleges in Wolverhampton and Birmingham teaching beauty and nail therapy, but she decided she needed a new challenge and applied for a start-up loan to set up her business.

Since receiving the funding, the Academy has gone from strength to strength with 16 of its pupils winning awards in national and regional competitions, and students coming from as far as Tenerife to train at the Academy.

The Start Up Loans Company scheme is a government-funded scheme which provides low-interest loans and mentoring support to aspiring business owners across the UK who might be struggling to access other forms of finance.

Since the scheme was set up in 2012, it has lent over £450m to aspiring business owners, providing 59,000 loans to people across the UK from all walks of life.

In addition to providing finance, the scheme offers a dedicated mentoring service to every loan recipient to help them with every aspect of setting up a business, from writing their business plan to marketing.