£25,000 business grant launched to help small businesses owners battle economic climate

Simply Business, one of many UK’s largest suppliers of small business insurance coverage, as we speak pronounces the launch of its annual £25,000 Business Boost grant.

The grant is designed to give UK small businesses a major serving to hand within the face of wider economic challenges – together with the price of dwelling rising at an alarming fee, inflation and provide challenges. Small business owners can submit their entries from today.

A panel of skilled judges, which final yr included main British businessman, investor and former star of TV’s Dragons’ Den, Piers Linney, and The Apprentice winner Carina Lepore, will resolve on the ultimate winner of the grant.

Entries will shut on 17 August and the winner will probably be introduced on 14 October.

The grant is the third iteration from Simply Business. Last yr it gave away £25,000 to founders Mo Kanjilal, Allegra Chapman and Rachel Pearson of the range and inclusion consultancy business Watch This Sp_ce.

They beat virtually 25,000 small businesses from throughout the UK to the grant, whereas the 2020 prize was picked up by Larissa Cooper of textiles agency Rowan Bay, from Norfolk.

Allegra Chapman, Co-Creator – Watch this Sp_ce commented: “Winning Business Boost actually took our business to the following stage.

“It gave us the monetary injection we would have liked to develop our audit and coaching platform in order that we are able to present a really holistic service to organisations trying to make a significant influence with variety and inclusion.

“It also helped to raise our profile and get us noticed by some very exciting new clients across the UK and beyond.” A current research from Simply Business confirmed the influence Covid-19 continues to have on UK SMEs, alongside the broader results of the present economic climate. The key findings confirmed:

• Small business owners now face wider challenges whereas trying to get well – with 70% stating rising prices are actually their greatest problem, together with provide shortages additionally proving tough
• 87% of small business owners have misplaced cash during the last two years, averaging £20,981 every in whole
• SMEs now say they’ve misplaced almost £21,000 on common, with one in six – totalling virtually a million small business owners believing they may by no means financially get well
• Over a fifth don’t count on to ever return to pre-pandemic ranges of buying and selling

Alan Thomas, UK CEO at Simply Business, feedback: “Small businesses are constructed on large desires, and we all know finance performs an enormous half in beginning or rising a profitable small agency.

“It’s by no means been extra vital to help the self-employed, with the influence of the pandemic and up to date hovering prices making it a tough setting for brand new and present owners. We need to make a real transformational influence to one proprietor’s life. From our analysis, we all know £25,000 does simply that – the common price for startups in yr one alone stands at £22,756.

“The truth we had virtually 25,000 functions final yr reveals how vital it’s to empower the nation’s entrepreneurs, as they give the impression of being to navigate a tough economic climate alongside the day-to-day challenges of being a small business proprietor.

“Small businesses play a vital role in our communities and contribute enormously to our economy. It only felt right to return with our Business Boost grant for a third year, having witnessed its positive impact on two deserving small businesses in 2020 and 2021.”