Mayor invests £62m to support small businesses across the capital

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has invested £62m into 28 local projects and granted funding to London boroughs and London & Partners to support small businesses across the capital helping to create jobs and sustain growth.

The £62m announced today will focus on boosting small business productivity, encouraging growth and increasing job opportunities as well as restoring a sense of local pride. This will be followed by a further £38.1m of funding for communities, to be allocated early next year, helping young Londoners into employment through education and training.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “I’m committed to being London’s most pro-business Mayor ever, that’s why I am delighted to allocate this funding to help nurture local businesses at the heart of communities across the capital.

“Businesses have faced significant challenges as they recover from the cumulative effects of the pandemic, Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis and it is vital that we offer them as much support as possible to navigate these challenges. I want London to be the best place in the world to do business and supporting our local economy is essential to building a fairer, more prosperous London for everyone.”

Mandy Nyarko MBE, co-founder and managing director, Startup Discovery School said: “We are incredibly pleased to be awarded a grant by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to tackle issues at the intersection of both environmental and social sustainability challenges.

“Our project will focus on accelerating London boroughs towards their net zero targets whilst ensuring we’re bringing all residents, particularly the most underrepresented on the journey which creates a true just transition.”

Jack Skinner, development manager of the Selby Trust, said: “As a community anchor organisation, we are delighted to have secured this funding. It is enabling us to help local businesses that already do so much for the area to develop vital new skills and harness new resources.

“Together we are becoming more resilient, and together we are having an even greater impact. With our partners Kingston University and Locality UK, our first workshops start in December and will be focussed on using new AI tools to do more with the time and resources a small business has available”.

Nicole Gordon, CEO, Better Bankside, said: “The Southwark Climate Collective will provide much needed business decarbonisation support to 160 SMEs across the borough of Southwark. Collective action is so important in addressing the climate crisis and this funding has made possible what would otherwise be out of reach for a significant number of SMEs.”

Investment allocations from the UKSPF is just one way in which the Mayor is supporting small businesses across the capital. Sadiq has also invested £26.74m in 154 SMEs through the London Co-Investment Fund, creating 5,271 jobs, as well as providing over £60m to 139 businesses from the Greater London Investment Fund, creating over 2,000 jobs.

The Mayor’s Pay It Forward London platform enabled small and independent businesses across London to raise vital funds and stay afloat, rebuild and recover from the impacts of Covid-19, with over £2.5m to support 500 local businesses.

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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