(RELEASED: 02 November 2007 )
£1m loan fund to help businesses in the borough to grow

On the eve of Enterprise Week, Croydon Enterprise has announced a £1m loan fund to help businesses in the borough to grow. Dubbed ‘Croydon Enterprise Loans’, the fund is a key part of the Ladder of Finance – a package of loans, grants and support aimed at would-be and existing business owners. This announcement means that Croydon Enterprise can now help people with the two main barriers to launching a business – finding the money to do it and the premises to do it in.

All that help and support is available through the Croydon Enterprise business hotline (020 8680 6161) – the service that so impressed TV Dragon Peter Jones when he visited in the summer. “I called pretending to be a window cleaner wanting to set up a business and I have to say they dealt with it seriously well,” he said at the time, “I was very impressed.”

Throughout the borough there are people with great business ideas, the main things holding them back are finding the money to get their ideas off the ground and premises to work from. This £1m fund is a central part of the Croydon Enterprise finance programme that will allow potentially hundreds of people who meet certain conditions to get loans, grants or access to special investors to make their dreams happen.

Affordable office space in central Croydon is now also available through the programme – access to this is through the hotline.


One in 10 people in Croydon already have their own business. The programme hopes that £1m of funding and the new office space, alongside the events happening throughout Enterprise Week will give hundreds more local people the chance to make their big idea happen.