The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity pledges to support businesses in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland through £50,000 delivered in grants in 2023.
Having provided interest-free loans to help support aspiring and existing business owners within Leicestershire and Rutland since 1542, The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity [STWLC] is now welcoming applications for grants of up to £5,000 from businesses within the county.
To be eligible for the business grant, available up to £5,000, applicants must be over 18 and under 45 years of age, a resident in Leicestershire or Rutland and operating their business from within this area, having done so for at least one year already. Full eligibility criteria can be found on STWLC’s website: www.stwcharity.co.uk/business-grants
Following a pilot programme in 2021, a successful grant scheme took place in 2022 in which £50,850 was delivered to businesses from various parts of Leicestershire, including a musician, café, gardener, beauty industry, artist and digital marketer.
Based at Friars Mill in the heart of Leicester city centre, STWLC provides unique interest-free loans to the value of £20,000 to new and existing businesses in Leicestershire and Rutland to aid start-up or development.
With no interest to pay on loans over a nine-year period and a three-year break before repayments commence, STWLC’s support has helped a number of well-known businesses within the county, including Barrie Stephen Hair whose owner, Barrie Stephen, is a patron of the charity.
Whereas the charity’s interest-free business loans are to be repaid, these grants of up to £5,000 require no repayment by recipients at all.
One business to benefit from the Charity’s grant last year is Leicester-based brewery Mill Hill Brew Co, which received a £5,000 grant to purchase a conical fermenter for beer brewing and some related equipment in order to get it operational.
“The grant really gave us the ability to capitalise on the Christmas period,” explained Harry, Director and Head Brewer at Mill Hill Brew Co.
“We have been able to re-invest in more equipment to fuel further growth due to the additional revenue, and it will continue to benefit our business on an ongoing basis. It (the grant) has also given us the opportunity to take cans to local bars, restaurants and shops and other businesses to open up new wholesale routes.”
Ammo Khan, Trustee at The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity leading the grants scheme, added: “We’re thrilled to once again be offering this fantastic opportunity for businesses in Leicestershire and Rutland to obtain a £5,000 grant. After a successful pilot in 2021, last year we received 234 applications totalling over £1million in grant requests. I had the pleasure of speaking with many of our grant recipients from last year’s scheme and it was clear to see what difference the funding was able to make, so I’m looking forward to seeing similar results again this time around.”
Anybody interested in applying for a business grant of up to £5,000 from The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity can do so by visiting www.stwcharity.co.uk/business-grants, where you can also find further information on the scheme.
The application deadline is 9am on 31 August 2023. Applications will be reviewed by the grant committee, with final decisions taken on grant awards during the week commencing 21 September 2023.
For more information on The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity, please visit www.stwcharity.co.uk
