£1.5m in the bank to inspire young entrepreneurs

Social businesses must move fast to claim a slice of a £1.5m funding pot to support young entrepreneurs, in a major new initiative from RBS Group.

The initiative is called RBS Inspiring Enterprise, and promises to put funds, business support and clear targets towards three key groups of aspiring business people – youth, women and social entrepreneurs.

The ‘Inspiring Youth Enterprise’ funding is the first of the three streams to be announced – and the deadline for applications is this coming Friday, 19 October.

The money will be split equally over three years, and will help meet the banking giant’s target to help 100,000 young people aged 13 to 30 explore enterprise, develop their skills and start up in business.

Only enterprises with an established track record and who operate on a non-profit distribution basis can apply, with a limit of £50,000 per application.

Thom Kenrick, who heads up the RBS Group Sustainability community affairs team, said the bank wanted ‘to see that the funding goes to those who are going to make a real difference to youth enterprise support in the UK’.

Support packages for RBS Inspiring Women and RBS Inspiring Social are imminent. Last year RBS claims to have opened more business accounts for women starting their own businesses than any other bank. However, men are twice as likely as women to start a business and only 15% of businesses are women-led. The bank said it aimed to ‘close the gender gap by supporting women in business’.

The ‘Inspiring Social Enterprise’ stream focuses on access to finance, as ‘the single biggest barrier to the sustainability of social enterprises’ is access to finance. RBS’s answer is ‘a strategy to build on RBS’ strong track record in widening access to finance for social enterprises’.

Full details of the youth fund, including eligibility criteria are available at the RBS Inspiring Enterprise website.