If you’re looking to start a business but have additional barriers to starting up, a grant of up to £2,000 has been launched to help individuals in Wales overcome barriers to starting up.

The Barriers To Start Up Grant is a £1million fund to enable economically inactive, unemployed individuals and young people not in education, employment or training to start their own business.

The grant forms part of a package of support that will include one-to-one advice and webinars, helping to build confidence in business practices and develop plans for starting a business.

To apply you should be:

• Economically inactive or unemployed
• Looking to start up a self-employed business in Wales

We are encouraging applications from individuals who identify as:

• Disabled work limiting health condition
• Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicity
• Women
• Young people not in education or training (NEETS) aged 18-24 or a College and University leaver since 2019 who are contracted for less than 20 hours per week

If successful, applicants will also be expected to consider the role they play in adopting our values of equality and sustainability in the running of their new business.

In allocating funding, priority will be given to those individuals that are facing barriers to business start-up and are furthest away from the employment market. Applicants will need to download and complete an expression of interest (EOI) document and once completed the document must be returned to BarriersSUG@BusinessWales.org

Alternatively you can speak to our teams in Rhyl or Wrexham who can help with the details and support you with your application.

The Barriers To Start Up grant will be available from Monday 13th December 2021 until the end of March 2022.

Guidance Notes

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