Starting a new business - Investment / Loan needed - Advice please

warrenwozere

Hi,

I am 19 and I am looking to start a business importing products from China.

I would need £15,000 to get the business started.

Personally I know that from the £15,000 investment I will be guaranteed to make a profit. I would make a profit of £8,000 - £9000 on the investment within 2 months of the delivery of the goods (I know they will sell within this time).


I know that I will make good money on the investment but getting the money is clearly going to be a problem!


I have not tried going to a bank yet with a business plan and asking for the money but to be honest with the banks in such a mess I don't think they would even consider it! Do you think it is worth a try?



Please can you give me some ideas of how I could find an investor or where I would be able to get a loan to start the business. I know the princes trust would be an option but I have looked into this before and it seems that the maximum amount they would loan would be around £5000.


Any advice would be really appreciated or if you know an investor who might be interested please let me know.


Thanks!
Warren

Rafter

Warren,

You are going to have to start slowly and demonstrate to a bank or loan company that you know what you are doing before you will get that kind of money.

You can try your local chamber of commerce to see if you can get a grant or help from a business angel, but otherwise all I can suggest is you get a job, get your new business started as a hobby and then once you have enough saved, so for it with the investment you need.

Sorry.

R.

warrenwozere

Rafter wrote: »

Warren,

You are going to have to start slowly and demonstrate to a bank or loan company that you know what you are doing before you will get that kind of money.

You can try your local chamber of commerce to see if you can get a grant or help from a business angel, but otherwise all I can suggest is you get a job, get your new business started as a hobby and then once you have enough saved, so for it with the investment you need.

Sorry.

R.

Thanks for the advice but the minimum amount I would need to start the business would be £15,000 (around 25 units) Stock would need to be imported and that is the minimum order + associated costs.

I will look into the Chamber of commerce and see if they can help.

TheGrant

Dragon's Den.

theartfullodger

£100 cash if you transfer the business idea to me...

PasturesNew

There's a people's bank, where you pitch to borrow money and individuals say "yes" or no. It'd end up with a bunch of them lending, say 15 people lending you £1k apiece.

http://uk.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/

You would most likely pay about 10% interest through them though.

S, the only way you can do this business is to import entire containers of stuff and get it through customs yourself and arrange the shipping/lorries and storage ...? Or could you not just use a UK wholesaler and build up.

cyril82

Banks won't lend you the money, the most they will usually lend is 40% of the total cost for start ups, and at such a young age, even with good credit i doubt you would get an unsecured personal loan for that amount in the current climate.

I was in a similar situation several years ago, i predicted the fad of mini moto's but could not raise the £10,000 i needed at the time, i just had to let that one go, many people made a fortune on those things but unfortunately i had to miss that one but i moved on and a year or so later, after saving some cash got into the electronics market and made a fair old chunk of change.

Your only option is probably to approch a venture capitalist, they are not all like the dragons on dragons den, however you would need to satisfy them that this was a viable long term business that they could see a profit from when they exited.

But if you cant make this one happen, don't give up.

warrenwozere

theartfullodger wrote: »

£100 cash if you transfer the business idea to me...

Sorry. Wont be taking you up on that one!

warrenwozere

PasturesNew wrote: »

There's a people's bank, where you pitch to borrow money and individuals say "yes" or no. It'd end up with a bunch of them lending, say 15 people lending you £1k apiece.

http://uk.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/

You would most likely pay about 10% interest through them though.

S, the only way you can do this business is to import entire containers of stuff and get it through customs yourself and arrange the shipping/lorries and storage ...? Or could you not just use a UK wholesaler and build up.

Yes I would need to import from China and need the £15,000 unfortunately it is the only way.

Thanks for suggesting Zopa though. It seems like it could be a possibility

warrenwozere

cyril82 wrote: »

Banks won't lend you the money, the most they will usually lend is 40% of the total cost for start ups, and at such a young age, even with good credit i doubt you would get an unsecured personal loan for that amount in the current climate.

I was in a similar situation several years ago, i predicted the fad of mini moto's but could not raise the £10,000 i needed at the time, i just had to let that one go, many people made a fortune on those things but unfortunately i had to miss that one but i moved on and a year or so later, after saving some cash got into the electronics market and made a fair old chunk of change.

Your only option is probably to approch a venture capitalist, they are not all like the dragons on dragons den, however you would need to satisfy them that this was a viable long term business that they could see a profit from when they exited.

But if you cant make this one happen, don't give up.

Yes it looks like you were in exactly the same situation as I am. I was thinking a venture capitalist would be the way forward. I have a feeling it would be very hard finding someone willing to invest. I will look into it though. Thanks!

orangetrader

If you have absolute courage of your convictions, why not put together a detailed business plan and approach friends, friends of friends and/or family and put together a consortium of investors. I did this many years ago and it worked out extremely well for all involved (investment in return for equity). Having said that, you do need to consider the consequences of failure (which can happen to any business). Best bet is to only offer investment at levels which individuals could afford to lose if the worst happened. Alternatively there are private individuals (so called angel investors) who will look at financing business plans.
Good luck.:beer: