Young people with clever business ideas are being encouraged to apply for loans of up to £10,000 from a new government fund.

The Start-Up Loans scheme is backed by former Dragons’ Den star James Caan.

It provides cash and business mentoring, and is being delivered by a number of companies.

Applicants must be under 30 and can apply through one of the delivery partners who will interview and mentor hopefuls and approve loans.

The programme is being run by entrepreneur Mr Caan and has received £112million in Government funding.

Tony Rafferty of www.printing.com is one of the delivery partners. He set up his company when he was 24 with a £3,000 loan from his father.

The business is now global and listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market.

Mr Rafferty said: “Our main focus will be to help young entrepreneurs from the graphic arts sector including graphic and web designers. But we want to hear from young entrepreneurs from other sectors too. Our business is partly based on a network of franchises and we already provide lots of mentoring.”

n To apply for mentoring with Tony visit his website at www.printing.com/entrepreneurs.