Awarding £50k to the next generation of entrepreneurs
Our Young Entrepreneur Fund is awarding £5,000 each to 10 young entrepreneurs to help start or grow their business
Enter now
T&Cs apply. One entry per person and business. The Young Entrepreneur Fund promotion is open to UK residents aged between 18 and 30. For full eligibility terms, read the full terms & conditions. Competition closes 23:59 on 9 Oct 2025. Simply Business will announce winners on or before 21 Nov 2025.
What could you do with £5k to get your business off the ground?
Through our Young Entrepreneur Fund, we’re supporting the next generation of business owners by giving away:
£5,000 each to ten young business owners
six weeks of tailored business support with our charity partner Hatch Enterprise
Our research with the Federation of Small Businesses found that almost two thirds of young people want to start their own business (rising to 75 per cent of 16-19 year olds) – but only 16 per cent are able to get started.
Access to finance and a lack of mentoring opportunities are two of the key reasons why young people struggle to break into business.
Does this sound like you? Enter by midnight on 9 October 2025 for your chance to win. The Young Entrepreneur Fund is open to applicants aged between 18 and 30.
Don’t forget to read our entry criteria to see what our judges are looking for in a winner.
For the longer answers, you can write your entry in another document, and copy and paste this into the field.
Learn more about
Meet our judges
Professor Green
Our entries will be judged by musician and entrepreneur Professor Green – co-founder of Aguulp and Giz’n’Greens.
Professor Green is also a prominent youth activist, focusing on youth homelessness, mental health, and disengagement.
Harpreet Kaur
Founder of Oh So Yum and winner of BBC’s The Apprentice
Julie Fisher
UK CEO of Simply Business
Rebekah Sun
CEO of Hatch Enterprise, our charity partner
Watch Professor Green meet some young entrepreneurs
Entry criteria – what we’re looking for in a winner
Our judges want to know why you think you should win and how you’ll use the grant and business support programme from Hatch Enterprise to supercharge your business.
Why should you win this prize? (500 words max.)
Entries will be judged on:
The unique value of your product or service. Tell us a little about your business – such as what makes you and your business different from others in the industry?
Whether the business is viable. Do you know how your business will generate enough revenue to cover its expenses and sustain itself in the long term?
Whether you can prove a demand for the business. Do you have market research to prove a gap in the market, or do you already have a strong customer base?
Ambitions and plans for growth. How will you grow the business?
Any evidence of innovation or impact. If your business idea incorporates a special skill, a particular way you serve customers, or a niche market you’ve identified, we’d like to hear about it.
How would you use the grant and business support programme to grow your business? (250 words max.)
Let us know how you’ll use the grant. Be specific on the cost of these expenses wherever possible. You can use bullet points when providing a breakdown of the costs.
Let us know what you’d like to get out of the tailored business support programme – are there particular topics you want to learn more about?
Key dates to remember
14 August
Applications open! Tell us about your business and how winning our Young Entrepreneur Fund would help.
9 October
Remember to get your entry in before the deadline.
20 November
We’ll announce the winners of our Young Entrepreneur Fund.
January 2026
Our Young Entrepreneur Fund winners begin the compulsory six week business support programme. After completion, winners will receive the £5,000 grant.
Mentoring with Harpreet Kaur of BBC’s The Apprentice
In addition to the winners, three runners-up will win an exclusive mentoring opportunity with Harpreet Kaur, founder of Oh So Yum and winner of BBC’s The Apprentice.
Our runner ups will each receive three one-to-one mentoring sessions with Harpreet, drawing from her wealth of experience of starting and running a successful business in her twenties.
FAQs – everything you need to know
Fill out the form at the top of this page to enter our Young Entrepreneur Fund competition. Make sure you read our entry criteria section to be in with the best chance of winning.
The Simply Business Young Entrepreneur Fund is open to UK business owners between 18 and 30 at the time of entry. You’ll need to have a viable business (or a great idea) to apply.
You can read the full terms and conditions for more information.
Entries will be judged on the value of the product or service you offer, whether your business is viable, whether you can prove a demand for your business, how innovative your business is, plus your ambitions and plans for growth.
Entries will also be judged on a well thought out plan for how you’ll use the grant money – plus explaining what you hope to get out of the mentoring programme.
You can only submit one business idea – so submit your best and make sure it’s in line with our judging criteria to ensure that you have the best chance of success.
We’ll accept business ideas, as well as businesses that are up and trading.
If your entry is successful and you’ve won either a £5,000 grant or a mentoring session with Harpreet Kaur, we’ll email you by 20th November.
Winners will be required to complete a 6-week tailored business support programme, which will begin in January 2026 and take place on Monday evenings from 6-8pm.
Following that, Hatch Enterprise will arrange for the transfer of money to a UK bank account. It will be mandatory to complete the programme in order to receive the grant.
The business support programme is a key part of the Young Entrepreneur Fund prize. By taking part and working with the Hatch Enterprise team, you’ll get the space, time, and support to focus on what your business needs to grow.
It’s designed to make sure the grant has a lasting impact – helping you plan, test, and take action on the things that matter most to you and your business.
The programme is made up of six interactive online workshops designed to help you grow your business step by step. You’ll learn practical skills like refining your business idea, understanding your customers, managing your finances, and building your confidence to pitch and find future funding.
You’ll also get access to Hatch Enterprise’s online platform, Circle, where you can revisit materials, use helpful tools, connect with other founders, and find extra resources to support your journey.
Throughout the programme, the Hatch Enterprise team will be there to offer guidance and answer your questions during regular drop-in sessions.
At the end of the programme, you’ll have the chance to share your progress and pitch your business in person – with friendly feedback to help you move forward.
The business support programme will begin in January 2026, subject to winners’ availability.
Mentoring sessions will take place between 20 November 2025 and 31 March 2026. We’ll contact runners up to arrange the sessions by 20 November.
We’ll use your personal information to run the Young Entrepreneur Fund competition. This includes things like getting in touch about your application, checking if you’re eligible, and rewarding entrants.
To do this, we’ll be sharing your information with Hatch Enterprise, who we’re working in partnership with. We handle personal data in accordance with our privacy notice.
If you can’t see the answer to your question, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or on social media.
Not aged 18-30? Be the first to know when we announce more competitions and grants by signing up to our mailing list.
About Hatch Enterprise
Hatch Enterprise is a national charity that helps develop entrepreneurs’ skills, knowledge, and confidence through unique programmes designed by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs.
Since 2013, Hatch Enterprise has supported more than 9,000 UK entrepreneurs to flourish – building a vibrant network of partners, funders, and investors who share their vision.
About Simply Business
We’re one of the UK’s largest business insurance providers. Since we started life in 2005, we’ve helped three million small businesses and self-employed people find the protection that’s right for them, from builders to bakers and personal trainers (we cover landlords, too).
Nearly a million customers across 1,000 different trades trust us to support them with their insurance.
You can build a policy tailored to your business, choosing the covers that you need to help protect your business’s name.