Business Spotlight – London Small Business Centre

Among the attendees of our most recent event at the Brain Exchange was a business adviser at the London Small Business Centre. Formally known as the East London Small Business Centre, they exist to provide help and support for entrepreneurs who wants to start their own business and be their own boss.

Their business support services are open to anyone living or trading within all 33 London Boroughs but they also run specific programmes in Lewisham and Redbridge, aimed at supporting local communities. This includes access to the Lewisham Enterprise Hubs, affordable workspace with business support and access to finance, and support for construction businesses in Lewisham.

As part of a commitment to supporting local businesses, Lewisham Council is working in partnership with London Small Business Centre to help Construction SMEs to access more work opportunities in Lewisham as well as in surrounding boroughs.

Key Areas of Focus

• Education.
• Advice and mentoring.
• Access to finance.

Education

Through a mixture of subsidised events, workshops and other programmes, they aim to ensure that small business owners are fully prepared and confident to start and grow their own businesses. Start & Grow is their three year tailored support business package funded by the Regional Growth Fund. The programme basically provides a step-by-step guide designed to take your idea from a start-up to a growing business.

Mentoring

The London Small Business Centre also providescre one-to-one mentoring services with their team of highly skilled, professional business advisers who have all worked for leading companies and have their own experience of starting a business. They give practical hands on advice about your business objectives, including help with business plans, cash flow forecasts and loan applications.

Once you've secured a start-up loan from the London Small Business Centre, you're assigned an adviser to mentor you through the start-up phase and to continue to review the practical aspects whilst you're trading and growing. If you’re an existing business and looking to grow, you’ll also be assigned a business adviser who will guide you on how to scale up. Businesses and advisers are paired together depending on their business ideas and goals. Sessions are structured dependent on the kind of support needed.

Finance

They also work with various partners and sponsors to ensure that clients have access to the right kind of loan and subsidised programmes to help start and grow a business. Their diverse range of partnerships with companies and organisations ranging from the European Regional Development Fund to London South Bank University deliver a range of pan-London projects.

As well as start-up loans, creative industry finance and RevoLewisham, the London Small Business Centre might be able to provide the following loans:

• Short-Term Loans Against Orders up to £10,000.
• Sharia Compliant Loans For Entrepreneurs of Muslim Faith.
• Gap or Match Funding With Other Lenders.

You can get involved through sponsorship, offering pro-bono support to entrepreneurs or donating to the East London Small Business Charity which runs the centre. The donations are used to help create jobs in London by training ambitious entrepreneurs to start their own businesses.

RevoLewisham

RevoLewisham is the revolving energy fund for Lewisham. It is designed to help Lewisham businesses aquire the skills, knowledge, accreditation and tools needed to put themselves in the best position to develop and benefit from market shifts.

Currently 17% of the total carbon emissions in the UK come from homes, commercial and public buildings. This will need to be substantially reduced in the coming years, offering a massive opportunity for businesses. Between the number of home and business retrofits which are taking place each year, increasingly stretching carbon targets and clear signs from government that most energy efficiency improvements to properties are going to have to be funded by occupants, there is every reason to believe the market for energy efficiency measures will grow substantially.

RevoLewisham can provide support or funding to increase the ability of your business to develop and access the growing energy efficiency market and help your customers make informed choices. The interest-free loan can be used for training, accreditation fees, retrofit equipment, project development and marketing. The programme is funded by the London Borough of Lewisham.

Click here to see our membership packages or leave a comment below.

Our next event will be at TateHindle on 12th October. We hope to see you there!