Wholesale review of support for UK businesses and innovation

Has any other business or business owner felt like us that getting funding for new ideas or expansion is both slow and complex, not to mention wasteful in terms of resources and often is no more likely to succeed than Oliver Twist asking for more food?

Every day news items feature claims the UK is looking to invest in new technology and ideas but how successful is that planned investment in practice. Yes, we hear the big headline investments but what about at grass roots. The UK can be split perhaps in to three business groups, the large PLCs, The SMEs, and the smaller owner run businesses. My business is in the third of those groups.

Small businesses remain the backbone of the UK economy and in any event is the birthplace of virtually every other business in the other categories.

As a small business you are nimble. You can run with ideas and innovations quickly, create jobs local to your workplace and your spending is also often with local suppliers. All in the garden looks good but when it comes to growth, diversification, and new innovations you do need cash and there lies the issue. Banks generally do not like risk and small businesses are often at the riskier end of the scale. Most of us need to look elsewhere but where?

We hear of grants, preferential loans, business angels, investment funds but how do you get access to them. Very often it is a jungle, and you are never sure who you are talking too. Internet searches of potential loan sources, grants or investors can lead you to worm holes and you spending time on telephone calls and zoom calls explaining your idea only to hit a dead end or realise the business you’re talking too is just interested in selling a loan product regardless of its suitability. A tip from the experienced is beware of sites offering quick access to funds who want to know everything before talking about what they can offer and costs. The consumer financial safeguards are not always afforded in the business world!

Worse still there are many organisations who promise to guide you through the process for you to only find the yare more interested in getting you to sign off their advice so themselves can access funding! It leads to frustration, disappointment, and leads to a lack of incentive to have new ideas.

At the time of the Banking crisis there were calls for the Bank of England to create a business bank loan system and take it away from the high street banks. Of course, nothing happened (Self-interest? I am no expert, so I leave it there). Surely, however, we can create innovation in the way we release funding quickly and simply. By pulling funding in to one place with simple processes that are proportionate to risk we can create a fast-track route for business to get funding needed for growth. 30 years ago, you could ring a bank manager from a garage and purchase a car with a loan unsecured for £30k with paperwork complete in 24 hours and funds released in 48.  There are many methods that can be deployed to achieve this such as stage payments against progress of the idea, limited funds as a percentage of a project etc.

If the banks don’t want o play ball anymore due to risk exposure why can Government not look at creating a direct route for businesses manged through the Department for business and trade tha can run online. It is time to cut out snake oil sellers, middlemen and for the UK Government to genuinely back British Businesses with good ideas (and many businesses I know have great ideas especially in the race to Carbon Neutrality) by funding them with easy to apply for direct grants and loans based on a simplified process.

Speak to your MP today and lets get British Business the funding it needs since wealth creation comes from business tha tare growing and profiting and that generates taxes for public projects that we all want be it schools, hospitals or just better roads.

Every day there is a demand for public funds but using them to create wealth that repays the funds and creates revenue through ongoing taxes seems a good idea at least but I personally wont be applying for funding to put it in force as it is too complicated right now! #business #loans #grants #funding #uk