Mayor invests £62m to support small businesses across the capital

• Mayor invests £62m from UK Shared Prosperity Fund into 28 projects supporting small businesses across London
• Part of a total of £144m the Mayor will invest into communities, businesses and skills before March 2025
• Funding creates more than 4,500 jobs across sectors such as gaming, the low carbon economy and businesses with diverse founders

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has invested £62m into 28 local projects and granted funding to London boroughs and London & Partners to support small businesses across the capital – helping to create jobs and sustain growth.

The £62m announced today will focus on boosting small business productivity, encouraging growth and increasing job opportunities as well as restoring a sense of local pride. This will be followed by a further £38.1m of funding for communities, to be allocated early next year, helping young Londoners into employment through education and training.

More than 4,500 jobs will be created across a range of sectors thanks to the Mayor’s investment. The 28 local projects funded in this round include:

• the Selby Centre, a community learning and business centre working across north east London, equipping unemployed and disadvantaged Londoners for the workplace;
• the London Business Partnership, who offer advice on leases, business rates and energy costs through free support and training;
• Amplify Venture, a project supporting 120 businesses run by black and minority ethnic communities, people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and women to scale their businesses, creating 50 jobs.
• Game Changer is a new programme from Film London to help diverse founders and SMEs in the video games sector become investment-ready through a programme of mentorships, workshops and introductions to potential investors
• the Southwark Climate Collective, providing expert support around decarbonisation and the Just Transition programme, which supports diversity-led start-ups aiming to tackle London’s net zero targets

Funding from the first round has also been given to London & Partners, the capital’s business growth and destination agency which championed the Mayor’s hugely successful Let’s Do London tourism campaign. The funds will also support London & Partners, as well as London boroughs, in ensuring that small business owners who are financially vulnerable, underrepresented or from deprived communities are able to access the support they need to start, grow and sustain their business into 2025. 

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “I’m committed to being London’s most pro-business Mayor ever, that’s why I am delighted to allocate this funding to help nurture local businesses at the heart of communities across the capital.

“Businesses have faced significant challenges as they recover from the cumulative effects of the pandemic, Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis and it is vital that we offer them as much support as possible to navigate these challenges.

“I want London to be the best place in the world to do business and supporting our local economy is essential to building a fairer, more prosperous London for everyone.”

Mandy Nyarko MBE, Co-founder and Managing Director, Startup Discovery School said: “We are incredibly pleased to be awarded a grant by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to tackle issues at the intersection of both environmental and social sustainability challenges. Our project will focus on accelerating London boroughs towards their net zero targets whilst ensuring we’re bringing all residents, particularly the most underrepresented on the journey which creates a true just transition.”

Jack Skinner, Development Manager of the Selby Trust, said: "As a community anchor organisation, we are delighted to have secured this funding. It is enabling us to help local businesses that already do so much for the area to develop vital new skills and harness new resources. Together we are becoming more resilient, and together we are having an even greater impact. With our partners Kingston University and Locality UK, our first workshops start in December and will be focussed on using new AI tools to do more with the time and resources a small business has available”.

Nicole Gordon, CEO, Better Bankside, said: “The Southwark Climate Collective will provide much needed business decarbonisation support to 160 SMEs across the borough of Southwark. Collective action is so important in addressing the climate crisis and this funding has made possible what would otherwise be out of reach for a significant number of SMEs. The benefits to business and impact of the Southwark Climate Collective is clear – significant carbon and cost savings, plus the opportunity to be part of a network of climate committed businesses which means there is a legacy beyond the lifetime of the project.”

Investment allocations from the UKSPF is just one way in which the Mayor is supporting small businesses across the capital. Sadiq has also invested £26.74m in 154 SMEs through the London Co-Investment Fund, creating 5,271 jobs, as well as providing over £60m to 139 businesses from the Greater London Investment Fund, creating over 2,000 jobs. The Mayor’s Pay It Forward London platform enabled small and independent businesses across London to raise vital funds and stay afloat, rebuild and recover from the impacts of Covid-19, with over £2.5m to support 500 local businesses.