The owner of a Newquay vintage clothing business has been chosen to help front a national campaign to help inspire and encourage aspiring start-up founders to take the leap into business ownership. 

Bex Osman, founder of Love of Lemons in Nansledan, is among 12 businesses announced as ambassadors to the annual Start-Up Loans Ambassadors programme, which celebrates exceptional business owners who have launched an enterprise using funding from the government-backed scheme.  

She has been selected as she embodies the can-do mindset it takes to make a start-up successful. 

Beginning with an online business during the pandemic, Bex opened her first store in Nansledan 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,” she laughed. 

Drawn from each of the UK’s 12 regions, the 2023/24 Start-Up Loans Ambassadors reflect the broad diversity of sectors and business owners supported via the programme. 

Bex and the other 2023/4 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, to help inspire people into business ownership.