Sweet – 30,000th startup loan worth £ 20,000 goes to chocolate company A&G Choclatl
The government-backed startup loan company hit the 30,000 small business loan milestone and set a new target of 75,000.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “New businesses are a key part of our long-term economic plan and that is why we are committed to increasing the number of loans to 75,000. Entrepreneurs across the country are already using loans to launch new innovative start-ups, thereby creating security and jobs for workers. ‘
The company that benefited from the historic loan was the drinking chocolate company A&G Choclatl, which received £ 20,000.
Road to success: Carol Smillie kicked off the StartUp Britain tour last month
The company, founded by Anjali and Gavin Healy, already supplies its products to the Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca and now plans to use its loan to move production from the family kitchen where it started to a factory to make a – drink version for supermarkets.
A&G Choclatl makes their chocolate from whole cocoa beans, which they say will give a traditional taste without adding flavor or color.
The Start Up Loans company delivers its loans via a network of partners and the Healys loan was sourced via the Virgin StartUp device. Anjali said: “Everyone needs support along the way.”
The new target of 75,000 loans coincides with a separate but related program, the StartUp Britain Bus Tour, in which business advisers travel across the country in a former Routemaster to offer help to new businesses. The bus visited Downing Street last month, where TV presenter Carol Smillie – who started an underwear business – helped kick off the tour.
However, the mentors also have some advice for the Chancellor for his emergency budget this week, with many calling for a simpler tax system to ease the bureaucracy for small businesses.
Winner: Choclatl received a loan of £ 20,000
Stavros Alambritis, co-founder of GZero, creator of the TV app CatchUp, said: “Business is simple, it is the tax system that complicates and distracts management from start-ups to their best chances. of success.
‘Simplify, simplify, simplify. I would suggest eliminating the national employer insurance tax in the next budget first.
“This is at best a stealth tax that many young entrepreneurs don’t realize is until they start employing people.”
And Charlotte Windebank, 29, managing director of First Face to Face, which aims to advise and educate young entrepreneurs, said: “As a startup representing other startups, we would like to see a budget that gives budding entrepreneurs the confidence to get into self-employment.
“Raising the personal allowance for tax-free income and simplifying the system would be a good start.”
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