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North Lincs Man Launches New Business

An Isle of Axholme man has realised his ambition of starting his own Estate Agency thanks to funding from UK Steel Enterprise’s Kickstart Fund.

UK Steel Enterprise, the wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel launched the Kickstart Fund to help create 100 new businesses in North Lincolnshire over the next 2-3 years, bringing much needed jobs to the area. Working in partnership with North Lincolnshire Developments, the Fund provides unsecured business loans of up to £5,000 to help them grow, expand and take on new employees.

Kevin Buttrick (53) launched his franchised estate agency business with Hunters Estate Agents (which has 150 branches nationwide) in May after an extensive training period. Kevin is the Personal Agent covering Epworth, Crowle and surrounding villages and is already experiencing success with several properties up for sale and others in the pipeline. Kevin, who lives in Ealand, has lived in the Isle of Axholme all his life and decided to apply for £3,000 of funding to help him launch the new business. With over 30 years of managerial experience behind him Kevin used the funding to buy key IT equipment and says the finance was critical in helping him take the step into self employment.

“Without the funds from UK Steel Enterprise I simply would not have been able to consider starting up my own business. Estate agents are always faced with long lead times when it comes to being paid so the funding really helped with the cash flow as well as buying vital equipment. I have always had a keen interest in property and the chance to be linked with a successful brand like Hunters made it a now or never move. Things have started very well and I’m feeling really positive about the business. It’s not easy taking chances in life but there are so few employment options around I believe you have to give it a go. I’ve a lot of experience to call on and  I’m hopeful that what I’ve started could in time become a legacy business for my son who is currently at university but for now I’m concentrating on helping people in the Isle of Axholme achieve their own dreams by buying and selling homes,” said Kevin Buttrick.

Allan Wood of UK Steel Enterprise says he is impressed by Kevin and hopes that many more North Lincolnshire people will follow his example: “Kevin has taken the brave decision to start up his own business but is showing that it is never too late to take a new direction in life. We were very impressed with the positive attitude that Kevin displays in his ambition to be successful in business. He has a good market to target and with 95% of house sales now being featured on-line we believe he has everything in place to achieve his goals. What we want to do now is hear from more people like Kevin and invest our money in them.”

UK Steel Enterprise already provides loans and equity investments in amounts from £25,000 up to £750,000 for more established businesses, including low interest loans locally in North Lincolnshire.

In addition to making finance available, UK Steel Enterprise and North Lincolnshire Developments are also jointly financing the provision of free business advice for small and start-up businesses that cannot afford professional advice.  Anyone wanting to apply for support from the Kickstart Fund should call UK Steel Enterprise on 0800 915 1188.