Another Government Mentoring Scheme
Another month, another Government business mentoring scheme - this time associated with the £82M Start Up Loans Fund for young entrepreneurs aged 18-24. Loans will be provided up to £2,500, repayable over 5 years at 3% above inflation. Pleasingly, the scheme also includes mentoring. The hope is that this will encourage more young people to have a go at starting their own businesses. I heard Lord Young on the ‘You and Yours’ Radio 4 programme (28 May) saying that if the enterprise culture in UK matched that of the USA, the small and micro business sector would create another 900,000 jobs, so fair play to the Government for investing in this scheme. As Lord Young said, the mentoring aspect of the scheme is more important than the funding. There is another Government scheme to make £100M available via alternative lending, such as peer-to-peer lending.
Will these schemes make a difference? It’s a moot point: £2,500 is a very small amount of capital to start any business, and the chances are that it will prompt those who have already decided to do it, rather than encouraging others to take the risk, however we need to give it a chance. Any scheme which promotes business start up with funding and appropriate mentoring is welcomed as the economy needs all the help it can get. I do wonder where the mentors are coming from - I answered a call in the Salisbury Journal for mentors to help with the New Enterprise Allowance Scheme for Jobseekers (same formula - micro loan + mentoring). After some correspondence, the scheme coordinator failed to get back to me. Whatever the reason, I wish all these schemes well, and I stand ready to assist if required.