Residents in Portsmouth, Hampshire, aged between 18 and 30 can now access grants of up to £2,000 to help start or grow their own businesses. The funding is being provided by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation in partnership with the South West Enterprise Fund to help young people overcome the high costs of starting a company. Applications are currently open and will remain available until 31 October 2026.
To qualify for the full £2,000 grant, a business must have been trading for less than two and a half years and be earning at least £500 in monthly revenue. For those in the very early stages who have not yet reached that income level, a smaller start-up grant of up to £500 is also available. These payments are not loans, meaning the money does not have to be paid back.
The initiative comes as figures show that Portsmouth has the highest rate of young people not in education, employment, or training in the Solent area at 7.1 per cent. Research shows that 79 per cent of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds see a lack of funding as the biggest hurdle to starting a business. The grants are intended for specific costs like buying equipment, building websites, or professional training rather than paying for rent or wages.
Local business owners have already seen success with the scheme, such as the indoor golf venue Par Society, which used a grant to pay for digital marketing. However, the community foundation has noted that demand for support is very high. They are currently only able to help around one in ten people who apply across all of their grant programmes.
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