Apply Now For
a Swef Grant

Grant Information

• Applications can be for grants up to the value of £2,000.
• Grants must be spent within one month of receipt of funds.
• Applicants must have a financial need for a grant, i.e. they don't have access to other forms of funding such as personal savings or help from friends and family.
• The item that grant funding is going towards does not exceed £10,000 in value.

Who is eligible to apply?

• Applicants need to be between the age of 18-30.
• Applications need to be for UK businesses only, and the applicant should have the right to work in the UK and be resident/present in the UK.
• The business should be the applicants sole work focus or there is a clear path for this to be the case.
• Applications can only be from sole traders/limited companies/CICs limited by shares.
• If a limited company, you need to be the majority owner of the business. A business partner over the age of 30 may not hold more than 20%.

Business Criteria

• The business should be turning over £500+ a month for three consecutive months.
• The business has a business bank account.
• The business has been trading for less than 3 years.
• There is visibility of the business.
• Applications that involve ‘match funding’ are particularly welcome.

Businesses in the following areas are not eligible for application:

• Invasive beauty treatments such as Botox, aesthetics, semi-permanent makeup, facial tattoos or dermal fillers
• Involved in consultancy or property development
• Drugs (this includes any business or idea connected to tobacco or vaping)
• Political or religious agendas
• Gambling
• Illegal or unregulated activity (such as cryptocurrencies)
• Finance or trading (which would need approval from the FCA)
• Resellers selling mass produced goods on online market places

How you can use the grant:

(This is not an exhaustive list)

• Equipment that will help a business achieve increased revenues. Applications that involve the purchase of second hand items are particularly welcome.
• Prototypes and product development costs
• Website/booking system build
• Goods and services provided within the UK are preferred
• Any courses or training applied for must be formal, visible and preferably accredited.
• Any IT hardware requested should be refurbished (cameras can be new)

Please note that SWEF does not provide grant funding for the following:

• Salaries
• Debt repayment
• Retrospective purchases
• App development or software development costs. Apps/software should be ready to launch or already launched at the point of applying to SWEF.
• Rent and utilities
• Stock for an existing product line
• Subscriptions that relate to the basic operational running costs of a business
• Dual use items (such as a mobile phone/driving lessons)

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