Brother in Law has lost his job and so fancys trying his hand at being self employed, he has been given info about a "big" course at Chamber of Commerce where they will fund the small businesses.

Has anyone been through this and what was their experience?

Is the funding available?

Hello,

We approached 'Big' around 18 months ago when we were starting and they were extremely helpful, they helped us with all the legal stuff and gave alot of advice. We woudl reccommend them to anyone.

As for the funding, they go through your business plan and make it as good as possible to give you a better chance of getting a bank loan etc, however, if you are claiming benifits they take you through the process of the princes trust which is about a 6-10 week process but gives you more of a chance of getting a decent loan/grant.

If however you have already started trading or the princes trust doesnt apply to you they do have their own pot for funding but it is limited. We didnt require any funding so didnt go through the process but we were advised that in some cases where credit is bad they can offer micro grants of upto £1000.

They also stay on with you once you are established and help you market your business throught networking events which we found was very helpful.

Hope this helped

Currently on the BIG programme and princes trust.
No, they wont fund small Businesses outright, however access to a small grant could be available aswell as micro loans for small Businesses (high interest). Its worth noting they wont just give you money straight off. Anything to do with government / public money has to be accounted for. Therefore he will need a good Business plan and will have to see an advisor for a number of weeks before any money is released. Although it differs from Business to Business he should be prepared for a bit of bureacracy and box ticking.
If he is 30 or under try the princess trust for a grant. Alternatively he could look at a bank loan, although again there is no guarantee he will get this funding.

The best first step he can take is to contact BIG/ senta and they will assess where he is at in the Business process, then take it from there.

Cool.

We have some savings, but takes the risk away if we can get a grant.

Princes Trust is 18-30 meaning up to the day before your 31st birthday, not under 30.

Brother in Law has lost his job and so fancys trying his hand at being self employed, he has been given info about a "big" course at Chamber of Commerce where they will fund the small businesses.

Has anyone been through this and what was their experience?

Is the funding available?

What is your brother in law planning to do?