The first place entrepreneurs should look to for support with a new business enterprise is "friends, family and fools", according to one expert.

Eastside Consulting, an organisation who offer advice and support to entrepreneurs and small businesses, said today that financing a business scheme can often be difficult and that for many, friends and relatives are the best option.

Richard Litchfield, managing director of Eastside Consulting, said: " If people have either savings, or family and friends with a bit of capital that will back them, then that's 100 per cent the most common way to start any business."

However, he added that for those unable to use these resources there were a number of other options available to them, including government-backed funding schemes.

"There's a scheme called the small firms loan guaranteed scheme … which is a guaranteed scheme that the government supports and is administered by the banks," he advised.

The recent Financial Stability Report released by the Bank of England warned that small businesses could see changes to how banks fund new businesses.

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