Budding entrepreneurs with good ideas but no backing are getting help from the Prince's Trust.

The trust's Be Your Own Boss scheme targets 18-to-30-year-olds, providing low-interest loans and volunteer mentors.

The charity has helped launch more than 50,000 businesses since 1983.

Last week Stephen Taylor, 25, from St Leonards, finished third in the Prince's Trust and Royal Bank of Scotland Group business of the year awards.

The ex-offender was unemployed for more than six months before launching Prime Signs with a £5,000 loan from the trust in February 2000.

The sign-writing business now employs three staff and has a projected turnover of £1,000.

He said: "I'd been working as a signwriter but the firm I was working for moved abroad but I wasn't able to move with it.

"I was about to become a father and was living in a flat provided by the firm so it was quite a bad redundancy - it really knocked my self esteem.

"I worked in charity shops, enrolled on an English course and attended a number of one-day courses at the local business centre.

"It was through college I found out about the trust."

He used the loan, topped up with some money borrowed from his parents, to buy a piece of machinery, some materials and office supplies.

Stephen said: "I'd been thinking about setting up a business for a number of years but it was a case of getting the support.

"No bank is going to give you a loan if you're unemployed and don't own your own home."

Getting the loan also helped him secure the support of a bank.

He said: "NatWest helped me out so much. It gave me enough slack to open a bank account. Within six months it had offered me an overdraft, which was very useful."

He started the business in a two-bedroom flat, two stories up, which "made things interesting moving signs up and down stairs all the time".

He moved into new premises six months after launching the business.

He said: "Since I moved here all I can say is, 'wow'. It has been a lot of hard work with a fair few 18-hour days and even some 48-hour stints but it has been fantastic.

"It would never have happened without the trust - I wouldn't have been able to afford the machinery what with spending money on nappies and baby food."

Graham Treharne, general manager at the trust's office in Brighton and Hove, said: "We help about 70 young entrepreneurs a year to start new businesses, spending about £250,000 in the process.

"We meet about 200 people a year who are seriously considering starting their own business and another 1,000 or so who are vaguely talking about it.

"The trust is aimed at those people no one else will help - people with great ideas but no money and no assets to help them raise bank finance."

The trust's success stories include Shoreham-based delicatessen Le Grande Fromage, which has just opened a second shop in Haywards Heath, Smart Ink, also based in Shoreham, which sells recycled ink cartridges, and Newhaven Domestics, which sells household goods.

Short Long Graphics was set up by Brighton design duo Sarah Lu, 22, and Sarah Turton, 25.

Sarah Lu said a £2,500 loan from the trust had enabled them to buy essential equipment. She heard about the trust through the Enterprise Agency.

She said: "I'd just graduated and had typical students' debts so this was the only way of raising the finance for the business.

"Without it we wouldn't have been able to keep up with the work we were getting."

She said there was more to the scheme than finance, adding: "Our mentor, Laurie Cannon, has been absolutely amazing at helping us with the business side of things.

"Every time we have a problem he's there for us and he's also someone good to talk to when we've got something successful to talk about."

Laurie, who has been mentoring for five years, said: "A lot of people are very creative so it's a question of helping them learn about the business side of things.

"They want to turn their ideas into reality and the best way to do that is by keeping their sights on the long-term while making sure the short-term ticks over.

"It requires a lot of determination and this shines through."

Start-ups helped by the trust had better survival rates than those that received bank loans because applicants were tightly screened.

Graham said: "Mentors are absolutely vital to the scheme but there is a shortage in Brighton and Hove and we would love to see more applicants coming forward."

For more details, call 01273 723399.

www.princes-trust.org.uk
*Tuesday March 25 2003