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New Loans To Help Enterprising Women
A new £10 million loan fund has been launched to provide finance, training and mentoring for East of England women looking to start or grow a business.
Enterprising Women, the business community for female entrepreneurs, has teamed up with Lloyds TSB Commercial to provide the scheme, which aims to tackle the lack of funding and fear of debt that are often cited as real obstacles to female entrepreneurship.
Women will be able to apply for up to £30,000 in any one application, with loans to be repaid over a four year period.
Training will also be available through a Market and Finance Readiness for Women course, which will be tailored specifically for the needs of women-owned businesses, and a number of mentors will be on hand to offer support to help with the challenge of setting up and running a company.
Bev Hurley, chief executive of YTKO - the company behind Enterprising Women - says research has revealed that women were often offered inferior funding deals.
She explained: “Women say they are often discouraged from seeking business loans, have been advised that re-mortgaging their homes would be a better – or the only – way of financing their business, and they are charged a higher interest rate despite all the evidence that shows women are a good credit risk. “They also report that some funders still have very traditional assumptions and stereotypes about women’s enterprise.”Ms Hurley also admitted that women often take a more cautious attitude to risk and debt, and are shown to, on average, undercapitalise their businesses by about a third compared to men.
The loan fund will officially open in September, but entrepreneurs who feel as if they have a solid business plan already in place are advised to get in touch with Enterprising Women now to start the application process.
For more information about the fund, visit the Enterprising Women website (opens a new window)