LEPs offer alternative finance route
Ambitious Black Country businesses aiming to take their operations to the next level and struggling to secure funding could benefit from loans from non-bank lenders.
Ambitious Black Country businesses aiming to take their operations to the next level and struggling to secure funding could benefit from loans from non-bank lenders.
A range of non-bank lenders are operating in the Black Country and business leaders at the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership are encouraging firms to get in touch.
The Black Country Reinvestment Society, Blue Sky Finance, Business Angels and, Black Country Enterprise Loan Fund all offer loans to local companies while organisations such as Alliance for the Black Country are on hand to offer advice and support.
The BCRS worked with the LEP to offer a series of access to finance forums in the region over the last year and its targets for the future illustrate the increasing demand for their, and other similar organisation's, services.
BCRS has set a target of lending up to £10 million in small loans in the next three years.
The loans, which currently range from £10,000 to £50,000, will help support local firms that have had difficulty in securing funding from banks.
The BCRS is this year celebrating its 10th anniversary, having assisted more than 400 customers over the last decade, lending a total of £10 million.
Paul Brown, the Black Country LEP's private sector lead on access to finance, said: "Accessing finance can be one of the barriers that prevents firms from growing their operations in the current climate.
"We are fortunate in the Black Country to have the BCRS and other organisations working on our doorstep offering a safe, affordable solution to getting the funding needed to expand businesses in the area."
Paul Kalinauckas, BCRS chief executive, added: "There is a lot we can do to help local businesses out there and we are looking to connect with them as their local business loan fund.
"The BCRS model is of an approachable lender and we assess each individual case on its own merits.
"We operate very much with a traditional lending ethos rather than impersonal computerised credit scoring and recently achieved 100 per cent in a customer satisfaction survey."