Stafford couple named Start Up champions

Start Up Loans Ambassadors for the West Midlands, Matthew and Corina Martin, both worked in hospitality and had been made redundant. The following month they decided to make their dream of owning a food business together a reality. After dedicating a lot of time to coming up with a name for the business, the name they landed on sprang to mind while playing video games.

The annual Start Up Loans Ambassadors programme, now in its sixth consecutive year, celebrates exceptional business owners who have followed the ambition of becoming their own boss after receiving support from the Government-backed Start Up Loans programme. Cod of Duty in Stafford is just one of 7,342 West Midlands-based businesses that have received a loan since 2012, representing a total value of more than £64 million.

Through a network of Delivery Partner organisations, the Start Up Loans programme provides pre-and-post loan support to help applicants develop a business plan, a fixed-interest loan of up to £25,000 to start or develop their business and mentoring and other support to help loan recipients with everything from cash flow to marketing.

Drawn from communities throughout the UK, the 2021 Start Up Loans ambassadors reflect the broad diversity and ambition of the nation’s small business sector at a grass roots level. A full summary of the businesses selected from the Devolved Nations and English regions can be found below.

Matthew and Corina launched Cod of Duty in December 2020 using two £17,000 Start Up Loans.

The demand for their offering was immediate, with product selling out within 30 minutes on their first day of opening. Now, with three spots secured to park their food truck and several street markets booked in, Matthew is keen to keep expanding the business’ portfolio and obtain bookings for weddings, parties and corporate events.