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<p>The UK is one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business. Government
is committed to supporting all entrepreneurs, whatever their background, to have the
opportunity to make their business ideas a reality.</p><p>We provide support to all
entrepreneurs to set up businesses through our online services on GOV.UK, the Business
Support Helpline, and the network of 38 local Growth Hubs across England. In 2018,
47% of the Business Support Helpline’s callers were women.</p><p>We have been working
closely with HM Treasury and industry to implement the eight initiatives from the
Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, to tackle the barriers faced by women
when starting and scaling a business. We have set an ambition to increase the number
of female entrepreneurs by half by 2030 – equivalent to an additional 600,000 female
entrepreneurs.</p><p>The British Business Bank’s Start-Up Loans Programme provides
funding and intensive support to new entrepreneurs, and has delivered over 67,000
loans, worth over £534m since it began in 2012 (as at end-September 2019). 40% of
Start Up Loans have gone to women – worth over £198m. 20% of Start Up Loans have gone
to BAME entrepreneurs – worth over £100m.</p><p>BEIS has also launched an independent
review into Young Entrepreneurship, led by the Prince’s Trust, that seeks to better
understand young entrepreneurs, including young female and ethnic minority entrepreneurs,
the specific barriers and opportunities they face – such as access to finance, and
networks - and what more can be done to support them to start and grow a business.</p>
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