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Start Up Loans delivers £10m of loans to Oxfordshire’s small business entrepreneurs

Press release 22 May 2025

  • Since launching in 2012, Start Up Loans has provided more than £10m in loans to small business entrepreneurs in Oxfordshire, with an average loan of £12,263
  • The top three constituencies that received the most loans are Banbury, Witney, and Bicester & Woodstock
  • Kidlington-based Helen Curry, founder of School Resources Exchange, used her loan to set up her online marketplace to help schools manage their surplus stock, make stretched budgets go further and be more environmentally friendly

Today, Start Up Loans announces that it has provided £10m in loans to entrepreneurs in Oxfordshire. Since the government-backed programme began, over 800 founders in Oxfordshire have taken out a Start Up Loan to start or grow their early-stage business. 

Of this £10m, £1.2m has been provided to start ups in the county between April 2024 and the end of March 2025, showing a sustained demand for finance for starting a business.

The average loan value received by aspiring entrepreneurs in the county is £12,263. Based on analysis of figures for each of the county’s parliamentary constituencies, Banbury was the most entrepreneurial constituency in the county with the highest number of Start Up Loans taken out, closely followed by Witney and Bicester & Woodstock.

In Oxfordshire, 11% of the Start Up Loans finance has gone to those who were formerly unemployed, helping get people back into work through entrepreneurship. 15% of recipients were from a Black, Asian or Other Ethnic Minority background.

One founder who used Start Up Loans to kickstart her business is Kidlington-based Helen Curry. Helen took out a £17,500 loan through Virgin StartUp to set up School Resources Exchange, an online marketplace where schools can buy, swap and sell excess curriculum resources.

Helen Curry, founder of School Resources Exchange:

I noticed in my previous role when I was looking around schools just how many resources were going to waste, due to things like last minute curriculum changes. School budgets can be tight, and so the idea was sparked in my head – what if schools could earn from selling their excess resources, whilst also being able to purchase discounted resources that they need from other schools?

Not only is it cost effective, schools have to think about their environmental footprint too. The marketplace ensures that more unused resources can go to a second home. The loan was instrumental in helping me to market the platform, as advertising to schools can be tricky.

Andy Fishburn, Managing Director at Virgin StartUp, comments: 

From day one, Helen was really clear on the purpose of her business and how it would have a positive impact for schools and it’s that purpose-driven approach that has helped her business to grow from an idea into a thriving new venture. It’s been a pleasure to support her start-up journey and we have no doubt School Resources Exchange will continue to play an important role.

Louise McCoy, Managing Director, Start Up Loans Products, British Business Bank:

We celebrate businesses that identify niche gaps in the market, just like Helen’s. Her business has done an excellent job of recognising a problem and finding an innovative solution. It’s good for school budgets and for the environment.

This milestone shows the impact Start Up Loans is having in supporting start up and early stage businesses in Oxfordshire and the wider South East. We know many businesses would not have started if the Start Up Loans finance had not been there for the owner and so it is great to see these 800 plus businesses start.

Start Up Loans is a subsidiary of the British Business Bank and delivers the Government’s Start Up Loans programme, providing first loans to businesses that have been trading for three years or less and second loans to businesses that have been trading for up to five years.

As an official Business Support Partner for the Start Up Loan programme, Virgin StartUp operates within a network of Business Support Partners, delivering Start Up Loans in the range of £500 to £25,000 across the UK.

Further Information

If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact [email protected].

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 increasing demands for finance.

Free guides on a range of subjects related to starting a business are available on the Start Up Loans website: Start Up Loans Free Start Up Guides. You can find recent media press releases in the Start Up Loans Media Centre.

The funding for the Start Up Loans programme is provided by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The Start Up Loans programme is operated by The Start-Up Loans Company, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, registration number 08117656, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. The Start-Up Loans Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of British Business Bank plc which is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. With the exception of BBB Investment Services Limited they are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority. BBB Investment Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at British Business Bank.

Aside from the return-on-investment numbers these key 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. 

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