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Startup Britain bus tour visits Newcastle and Middlesbrough

National enterprise campaign StartUp Britain was in Newcastle yesterday and will visit Middlesbrough today, as one of 25 stops across the country, encouraging Britain to embrace an entrepreneurial spirit to startup new business.

David Cameron announced that the target set for the government-backed, Start Up Loans company, three years ago, of awarding 30,000 loans to entrepreneurs by 2015 has been achieved.

213 loans, worth £987k in total, have been made to individuals in Newcastle and 1,719 loans, worth £7.12m, were made to people in the North East as a whole during this period.

For a fourth year, the campaign is touring Britain with a bus full of startup experts and champions, to provide inspiration and support to tens of thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Joining Sage as a headline sponsor of the tour, RBS is providing the bus, the NatWest Mobile Business School, wrapped with campaign branding to catch the eyes of passers-by on the high street and on the open road.

Government-backed Start Up Loans Company and Upwork - the world leader in online work - are also supporters. On board, the sponsors will be giving one-to-one advice and workshops to aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, while local business support organisations including First Face To Face/If We Can, You Can… and Business & IP Centre Newcastle will provide mentoring and local guidance.

The tour’s national partners include FSB, British Chambers of Commerce and UKTI, which recently launched the First Time Exporters Initiative to provide advice and support to help companies expand into international markets.

Later in the tour, the bus will be taking up prominent positions in Briggate in Leeds and Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens, and will be visiting Margate, Plymouth, Dundee, and Swansea among many others.

StartUp Britain director, Matt Smith said: “Since StartUp Britain launched in 2011 we have seen record breaking numbers of people each year starting businesses, showing that the entrepreneurial spirit within Britain continues to grow.

By parking the bus in town squares across the country, we want to give people the confidence and inspiration to turn their business ideas into reality“.

Lee Perkins, MD at Sage UK and Ireland on the importance of the tour and I’ve also included some recent stats from Sage that show encouraging signs around the areas entrepreneurial spirit.

“Without doubt the North East is one of the best places in the UK to start a business. We have world class universities, people and ideas, and we’ve seen first-hand how those ingredients can create amazing businesses with the right support.

“Our research reaffirms that the region’s startup scene is soaring with the North East ranking the second only to London in terms of entrepreneurial spirit.

“However with many still unsure where to go for advice on starting a business, it’s clear local budding entrepreneurs will benefit hugely from initiatives like the StartUp Britain bus. We’re encouraging people to take advantage and get on board!”