Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Two in five small businesses (42 per cent) say they don’t have enough access to finance to keep their companies going.
Over half (52 per cent) have no financing at for their businesses, despite the UK being a world leader in offering innovative finance solutions for small business.
Of the small businesses that do have access to finance, one fifth (19 per cent) rely on bank overdrafts to finance their business, rather than loans or other types of investment, according to new research. A business credit card is the second most popular choice (9 per cent) followed by loans (9 per cent).
>See also: What documents do you need when applying for a business loan?
At a time when every small business has to be, to an extent, a digital business, nearly half (47 per cent) of small businesses admit they do not think they have sufficient digital skills for their businesses.
And skills and staffing remain a key concern for Britain’s small businesses, with over a third (37 per cent) unhappy with their ability to maintain and recruit staff.
Yet nine out of ten small businesses (86 per cent) remain upbeat, saying that they are ambitious for their
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Knight Capital to open London office offering small business loans
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
EXCLUSIVE: Knight Capital, the Malaysian small business financier, is opening a London office to finance British small businesses.
Kuala Lumpar-based Knight Capital hopes to lend around £1.5m to around 15 to 25 small businesses in its first year through its UK offshoot Knight Credit.
Products on offer will include term loans, bridging loans and working capital with no minimum amount.
See also: Best small business loans in the UK
The implication is that it will be lending between £60,000-£100,000 a time to small businesses, although Knight Credit says it can go as high as £3m.
Knight Credit sees an opportunity to come into the UK market post Brexit, especially as it sees an opportunity for supply-chain finance given the inevitably more complicated red tape surrounding imports and exports.
Samreet Singh Randhay, who will be running the London office when it opens its doors on November 1 – the day after the UK is due to leave the European Union – said: “With Brexit coming, there will be a lot more financing required because of the UK’s vision of being self-sustaining.”
Singh stresses that, unlike other small business lenders which stress ease of applying for loans online and fast decisions, what
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British Business Bank increases small business support by 27pc
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
British Business Bank, the Government economic development bank, increased support for start-ups and smaller businesses by over a quarter in the past year.
It has supported over 89,000 businesses in the UK with £6.6bn of finance in 2018-19, an increase of 27pc from £5.2bn the previous year, according to its annual report.
Over 90pc of the finance was delivered through smaller, newer or alternative finance providers. The bank announced 13 new delivery partners across its programmes during this period, lifting the total number of providers it works with to more than 130.
Almost half of the £6.6bn involved providing capital to SME lenders, a third consisted of equity placed with venture capital fuinds, and the rest spent by the BBB guaranteeing borrowing by businesses.
Indeed, the BBB has become one of the largest investors in venture capital funds. Unicorn companies that the BBB has backed through VCs include Revolut, Graphcore and TransferWise.
Meanwhile, the bank’s regional development funds, aimed at levelling the playing field for access to finance, now support more than £240m of funding.
The bank made a pre-tax profit of £81.3m over the period.
Lord Smith of Kelvin, chairman of the British Business Bank, said: “Smaller businesses are
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Investment community to focus on inclusivity and support
by Stephanie Spicer • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Stephanie Spicer on Small Business
A programme designed to help investors to in turn help and support the business they invest in has been launched.
Mindful Investor was devised by Guy Tolhurst of alternative investment research source for financial advisers, Intelligent Partnership, after he recognised a need to establish fairer, more responsible and holistic investment practices across the UK business investment community.
The mindful Investor programme operates through key stages: assessment; report and road map.
Assessment looks at how an investor works with employees and SME owners; the report measures the investor against a set of principles and shows the investor how diverse and inclusive it is and the road map stage shows how an investor can support better health, well-being, culture and environment itself and within the business it invests in.
Tolhurst says he wants to create a “more inclusive and supportive financial ecosystem, by encouraging investors to put people and profits on an equal footing and pay more attention to the diversity and well-being of the teams they invest in”.
It is hoped the programme will drive a cultural change towards more socially responsible investment into Britain’s small and growing businesses, focusing on the benefits of financial capital to help businesses
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Funding my business led to stress-related alopecia – podcast
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Welcome back to Small Business Snippets, the podcast from SmallBusiness.co.uk
In this episode, Anna Jordan chats to Helena Murphy, co-founder of investment consultancy, Raising Partners. She explains how funding a previous business led to losing her hair, her tips for managing stress and common misconceptions around raising funds.
Be sure to visit SmallBusiness.co.uk for more articles around funding, stress management and social media as a business owner.
While you’re there, remember to like us on Facebook @SmallBusinessExperts and follow us on Twitter @smallbusinessuk, all lower case.
You can listen to it here:
Helena Murphy: Funding my business led to stress-related alopecia
We’ve also got podcast episodes looking at:
One entrepreneur’s first professional public speaking engagement
Adapting to UK life and learning English before starting a business
Securing seed funding
Finding the perfect head of customer care
Reaching a £1 million annual rate of return
Boosting client numbers from 30 to 850
Starting a brand new business from scratch
To find out more about Small Business Snippets, you can also download the trailer.
If you want to listen to the podcast elsewhere, it’s available on iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud and Spotify.
Funding my business led to stress-related alopecia – podcast
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Small Business Commissioner claws back £3.1m over last 6 months
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
The Small Business Commissioner has clawed back £3.1 million in late payments owed to small businesses by large companies within the last six months. According to new research from Funding Options, this compares to just £380,000 repaid in the previous six months. Government launched the Small Business Commissioner in December 2017 to help small companies
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5 ways to earn passive income for your business
by Partner Content • • 0 Comments
For a business, cash flow is key. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling socks on the main street or you’re a leader in your industry, every business model boils down to the cash account. In fact, disruptions in the cash flow are the most common reason for business failure. One way to guard against this
The post 5 ways to earn passive income for your business appeared first on Small Business.
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Tax relief and fintech could help self-employed to save more into pension
by Michael Somerville • • 0 Comments
The Government will look to nudge self-employed workers to save towards a pension with the help of tech but tax reliefs may provide more effective in the long-run. The amount of self-employed workers who save towards their pension has more than halved in ten years, from 30 per cent in 2006/07 to 14 per cent
The post Tax relief and fintech could help self-employed to save more into pension appeared first on Small Business.
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Selling as You Build: How to Get Early Customers to Finance Your Business
by Phil Strazzulla • • 0 Comments
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Here’s seven tips for getting paid promptly as a small business owner
by Ivo Weevers • • 0 Comments
For all the freedom that being a business owner brings, being paid late is one of the most disempowering and dispiriting things about self employment. SMEs in the UK are paid on average 21 days late, which has an affect on cashflow, financial freedom, and in some cases even mental health. According to recent research
The post Here’s seven tips for getting paid promptly as a small business owner appeared first on Small Business.