British Business Bank reveals South West Small Business Ambassador

By Nicky Godding

19 October 2023

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Love of Lemons, a vintage clothing business that started online during the Covid lockdown and has since grown to include two high street shops is among 12 businesses announced as Ambassadors of the Start Up Loans programme, part of the British Business Bank.

The annual Start Up Loans Ambassadors programme, now in its eighth year, celebrates exceptional business owners who have launched an enterprise using funding from the government-backed scheme.

Bex Osman, founder of Love of Lemons in Nansledan, near Newquay in Cornwall has been selected as she embodies the can-do mindset it takes to make a start-up successful.

Starting with an online business during the pandemic, Bex opened her first store in Nansledan near Newquay in 2021, selling hand-picked vintage items alongside sustainably produced new brands. She relocated to a brand new shop in Nansledan over the summer and has just opened a sister store, Love of Vintage, in the same complex.

Bex said: “I won’t pretend that it hasn’t been scary, but I think without that emotional drive it never would have happened. I worked for eight years in fashion retail in Cornwall before branching out on my own during lockdown by launching online, but ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted my own shop. My first Start Up Loan helped me open Love of Lemons and this year I took out a second loan to open Love of Vintage.

“It’s been a huge step for me. I’ve always been creative and had a lot of retail experience styling, buying stock and managing shops for other people, but I’ve always found the numbers side a bit daunting. The process of applying for the loan, working on business planning and projections has been a massive help. Above all it was knowing that the Bank had faith in me that I could make this work. Having that external validation of what I was trying to do gave me a huge boost in confidence and believing in yourself when you’re just starting out is so important.”

Bex says she loves chatting with her customers and helping them find something they’ll love and describes what she does as ‘super-slow fashion’: “I remember everything I buy. Every piece has got a bit of my heart.”

That’s a far cry from when she was a little girl with a Fisher-Price shop till at home: “I used to get all my produce lined up on the floor and everyone had to come in and buy something, and if they didn’t I’d get really upset!”

Drawn from each of the UK’s 12 Nations and regions, the 2023 Start Up Loans Ambassadors reflect the broad diversity of sectors and business owners supported via the programme. More details of the businesses selected from each of England’s nine regions and three Devolved Nations can be found further below.

Bex Osman and the other 2023 Ambassadors will be introduced at a launch event in central London that kick-starts a year-long programme which will see the new Ambassadors take part in a series of local and national activities, helping inspire and encourage aspiring start-up founders to take the leap into business ownership

Steve Conibear, UK Network Director South West for the British Business Bank, said: “Bex is a fantastic example of an entrepreneur who has followed her heart in setting up her new business while keeping her feet firmly on the ground. We’re delighted that she is one of our 12 Nations and Regions Ambassadors and I hope that her story will help inspire other start-ups across the South West.”

Since its inception in 2012, the Start Up Loan programme has delivered more than 105,000 loans to business owners across the UK, amounting to more than £1bn of funding. Of those loans, 40% of loan recipients have been women and 20% from Black, Asian, and Other Minority Ethnic backgrounds (not including White Minorities).

Other start-up loans ambassadors across the region are:

Pallavi Ghosh – Anav
South East

Anav, an artisan home décor brand, offers handcrafted, natural treasures from around the world, focusing on sustainability and fair trade principles to make a difference in the world. The name is inspired by the founder’s two children, Anya and Avik.

Instagram: @Anav.home / Facebook: @Anav-home

Aitanna Gomes - Light Rave Studios

West Midlands

A production company of photographers and videographers with over 30 years of combined experience. They capture content at all types of events including weddings, corporate functions and gatherings for family and friends. She set up her business in 2022 and took out the loan this year to expand it due to its success.

Instagram: @light_rave_studios / Facebook: @lightravestudios

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.