Posted on 06.11.2013, by Rob Warlow
I often hear business owners say there is little help for them to get finance and yet there are a number of schemes out there. So why is it that the existing of the various schemes are not widely known?
This is one finding highlighted in a review on government finance support carried out by the Nation Audit Office (NAO). The NAO has concluded that despite a renewed focus by the government on the challenges facing SMEs in raising finance, there is scope for the range of initiatives to work towards a more unified offering.
The NAO found that schemes such as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee and Start-Up Loans provided direct support to around 5,900 firms in 2012-13, and whilst the schemes are generally performing positively it is felt the profile of the schemes needs to be raised.
The new Business Bank, which is due to be launched in 2014, will be the organisation to bring the schemes together but in the meantime more needs to be done to improve awareness.
The NAO also report found that, at present, although the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and HM Treasury both have teams dealing with ‘enterprise’ policy, there is no formal research programme joining the Departments with other departments, such as HMRC, all of which have an interest in SMEs.
In past blogs we have shared information on lending to SME from sources such as the Bank of England, British Bankers Association, the SME business barometer and yet there is no one single point of source.
It’s as in all things in life… you have to know where to hunt out the right information and of course BLS is one of those sources of information so keep reading our blog!
Rob kindly agreed to attend the recent Pontypridd RFC sponsors networking evening and delivered what can only be described as an excellent talk on 5 Tactics to Boost Your Business and Your Profits. He kept the audience engaged throughout and the feedback from everyone was excellent. Rob is very knowledgeable on business and finance and on top of that is a genuine nice guy. We hope to have him back at a future event and I have no hesitation in recommending Rob’s services.
Further to your recent presentation at LEAD Wales just wanted to say it was very refreshing to see somebody talk passionately and positively about finance, very insightful!
Rob delivered a series of 3 workshops aimed at understanding how finance houses look at finance propositions with the aim for us as a team to deliver more of a bespoke offering to our customer base. The training was delivered to a mixture of staff who work with new businesses start-ups and existing established businesses across Mid & South West Wales. Rob delivered the training with an abundance of passion and has really helped my team look at financial propositions in a different light, many thanks again Rob and I look forward to work with you in the near future.
Hi Rob, it was so interesting and entertaining listening to you at the Kevin Green Wealth Coach Workshop in Reading this weekend! I didnt realise you can find Finance proposals such fun!. Brilliant tips! Thanks.
I wanted to thank you for such an insightful, energetic, and entertaining talk at the Kevin Green Wealth event on securing funding and creating a successful plan. It was brilliantly executed and a pleasure to listen to and the ideas I’ve learned are definitely going to help me in going forward.