Forum - Obtaining a Grant/loan

Hi Steven,

To summarise:

You have a property with a value of £130K
Current savings of £20K
Bank loan offered of £20K

But you still require a further £10K?

Is this correct?

Also, are you actually trading yet?

If you are not trading you may be able to secure up to £7.5K but if you are trading you may be able to secure up to £15K with a company called SCML (South Coast Money Line) rates are around 22% and designed to help those who have looked at all other resources, including the banks.

SCML are linked with Enterprise First so you could potentially get up and running fully with a little bit of research on the Business Link website for advice with you business plan, arrange a meeting with a local EF representative to proof your plan and also a fresh set of eyes will spot areas and provide suggestions you may never have thought off, and potentially you will also be offered the final finance through SCML if this is the route you decide.

I have used the services of Enterprise First, first hand and have found this resource unquestionably helpful and priceless and SCML I have used in the past as well for a separate venture and the service along with the availability and quick responses to ANY questions proved to me they have been the Wright choice for that requirement.

Link to a business plan advice on Business Link:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073869162

Link to some business plan templates:

http://www.bplans.co.uk/sample_business_plans.cfm

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/results.aspx?qu=business+plan

Have you presented a business plan to the bank? Has the plan been scrutinised by anyone else? I can see there are free tools on this site which may help.

For your start up capital - have you got costed proposals and thereafter have you got financial projections?

Not sure I understand the point on your flat (are you saying it is worth £130K with a loan o/s of £100K?) - if you are thinking of offering this as security then a bank might be encouraged by that.

Check this PDF for advice on approaching banks http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/Finance_files/Guide_to_accessing_bank_fin...

The Prince's Trust may be able of offer small amounts of assistance. Are any friends/family able to contribute? Small equity stakes will help to persuade a bank to assist.

As well as Business Link try your regional development agency http://www.englandsrdas.com/

Good luck.

Hi Steven,

Get in touch with your local Business Link to find out whether you can access any grants or loans. Try to arrange a face-to- face meeting. If you visit the Business Link website home page [http://www.businesslink.gov.uk] you can enter your post code and the contact details of your local Business Link will appear.

The main BL site also features a searchable directory of grants and support schemes [http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/gsd?r.s=sl&r.lc=en]. Best of luck, but be warned, getting any financial assistance to help start a business can be tough.

Cheers

Mark Williams - site editor