Small business owners will get the chance to be matched with a Hollywood star for mentoring and win a £7,500 grant as part of a new global campaign.

Eva Longoria is the face of a programme run by tech giant Lenovo aimed at connecting like-minded entrepreneurs through business “twinning”.

A select number of founders will benefit from mentorship and a boost to their profile from the American actress, businesswoman and investor.

Small businesses from the UK, US, Japan and Mexico can apply to win 10,000 US dollars (£7,490) worth of grant funding, artificial intelligence-powered devices and mentoring through the cross-border initiative, named Backing Every Business.

The 12 winners will be paired up across industries and countries in a bid to plug a “support gap” that Lenovo said many smaller firms face.

Lenovo, which is based in Hong Kong and makes electronics including laptops and PCs, said twinning matches entrepreneurs facing similar challenges to help them solve problems and learn from each other.

It has partnered with Longoria for the campaign who, alongside her acting career, has a number of business ventures including as the part-owner of Mexican football club Club Necaxa and involvement in women’s club Angel City FC.

Longoria said being an entrepreneur was “one of the hardest, most daring things you can do” and that “entire communities benefit” when founders get support.

Applicants for the competition must have fewer than 250 employees and have generated less than 50 million US dollars in revenue and raised less than three million US dollars of investment capital.

Winners will be chosen by an independent group of judges after applications close on April 15.

Lloyds Banking Group is facing intense scrutiny from a powerful parliamentary committee after a significant data breach allowed some customers to view other users’ financial transactions via their banking app last week.

The incident has prompted the Treasury Committee to demand immediate answers from the high street giant.

Dame Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Treasury Committee, has formally written to Charlie Nunn, the group chief executive, seeking comprehensive details.

Her letter, explicitly headed “improper disclosure of individuals’ account information,” requests information on the number of customers affected, the expected compensation payouts, and the precise nature of the sensitive data that became visible.

Highlighting the gravity of the situation, Dame Meg stated: “On the face of it, this is an alarming breach of data confidentiality. In the interests of transparency, I would welcome a set of responses from Lloyds Banking Group related to this troubling incident.”

The committee has also set a timeline for further disclosures. Within one month, Lloyds is expected to provide an initial assessment of whether any customers have fallen victim to financial crime as a direct result of the information exposed.

A more detailed account, including a full description of how the incident occurred and the preventative steps taken, has been requested within six months.

On 12 March, some customers using Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Halifax apps reported that they were able to see information related to other people’s accounts through their banking app.

Customers said they could see transactions unrelated to them such as direct debits, wages, cash withdrawals, and some national insurance numbers related to payments.

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One woman told the Press Association last week of her shock to find that she was “looking at someone else’s life” when she logged into her banking app.

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Last March, the committee found that nine of the top banks had accumulated at least 33 days’ worth of outages over the preceding two years.

A Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) spokesperson said last week that it was in contact with Lloyds to understand what had happened and how it was being resolved.

The FCA spokesperson said previously: “We expect firms to protect customer data and be able to respond to and quickly recover from disruptions.”

Lloyds has previously apologised to customers and said it was looking into what had happened.

The number of companies collapsing into administration jumped by nearly a third last month, official figures have shown, as fears mount that cost pressures from the Iran war could push more firms to the brink.

The Insolvency Service said company administrations rose 30% year-on-year in February to 146, maintaining high levels seen in January when 152 firms called in administrators.

Overall, company insolvencies across the board were 7% higher when compared with January, at 1,878, but were 7% lower on an annual basis.

Experts said the cost shock being caused by the Iran conflict and rocketing oil prices could push company failures even higher, with inflation set to rise once more and interest rates now expected to stay higher for longer.

A number of high profile firms have gone bust so far this year, affecting thousands of jobs, including American-inspired restaurant chain TGI Fridays, accessories retailer Claire’s and Revolution Bars owner The Revel Collective.

On Monday, car park operator NCP added to the list, calling in administrators after seeing losses mount in a move putting 682 jobs at risk.

Giuseppe Parla, restructuring and insolvency director at Menzies, warned a further pick up in insolvencies is expected over 2026 if the Iran conflict is not resolved quickly.

He said: “For companies already operating on tight margins, rising costs and uncertainty could quickly translate into further financial distress.

“As a result, we could see insolvency numbers continue to rise in the months ahead.”

We’re already seeing business owners becoming more cautious about investment decisions, choosing to wait and see rather than commit while costs and demand remain uncertain.

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Tom Russell, president of R3, the trade body for restructuring and insolvency specialists, said: “Sectors with high energy usage or thin margins, including hospitality such as hotels and restaurants, may be particularly exposed, and could feature more prominently in the insolvency figures as the year progresses.

“We’re already seeing business owners becoming more cautious about investment decisions, choosing to wait and see rather than commit while costs and demand remain uncertain.

“That hesitation, combined with rising overheads, means some businesses that were just about coping may now find themselves under renewed strain.

“This is likely to have a knock-on effect to insolvency rates in the coming months as higher costs make their way through to supply chains and balance sheets.”

The latest data showed that creditors’ voluntary liquidations were behind the month-on-month rise in corporate insolvencies in February, up 11% at 1,473.

On an annual basis, company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) also saw a big increase, with 10 recorded last month versus seven a year ago.

The Insolvency Service also said the construction, wholesale retail and hospitality sectors were among those with the highest number of company failures in the year to January, accounting for 17%, 16% and 14% of total cases respectively.