New businesses are the lifeblood of a healthy economy, helping to create jobs and growth.

That’s why this Government believes in supporting hardworking people who aspire to start their own business. Because of the financial crisis we inherited, such people were finding it hard to get a loan, preventing them from realising their dreams.

So we set up the Start Up Loans scheme, providing start-up support to budding entrepreneurs in the form of a repayable loan together with a business mentor.

So far, 10,000 loans, worth £50 million, have been awarded and Croydon has had the second highest number of loans of any local authority in the country (250 loans worth a total of nearly £1.2 million). It’s evidence of how many people we have in our town who have great ideas and only need a bit of help from the Government to set them on their way.

The scheme aims to support 30,000 new businesses by 2015 so if you’ve always thought about starting your own businesses but can’t get a loan from your bank, why not see if you are eligible?