Investment readiness: Your independent free guide to business finance options

For entrepreneurs and smaller businesses, so vital for the UK economy, securing extra finance is crucial to realising potential. But many business leaders are not aware of business finance options available to them. According to the British Business Bank’s 2018 Small Business Finance Markets report, 70% of small firms would accept slower growth rather than borrow.

This is partly because many entrepreneurs lack awareness of the increasingly diverse funding market for smaller businesses. Survey data consistently shows that most UK smaller businesses are not aware of their business finance options beyond standard term bank loans, overdrafts and credit cards. Even where they are aware of a product, often they don’t know a trusted provider of that product to contact.

Raising awareness of the choices available is therefore vital. Better informed businesses can make better choices about their finance, and so are more likely to invest and grow.

As the UK’s national economic development bank, the British Business Bank supports economic growth by making finance markets work better for smaller businesses in the UK, allowing them to prosper, grow and build economic activity. Our programmes aim to increase both the supply and diversity of finance for smaller businesses. Currently we support more than £5.5bn of finance to over 78,000 smaller businesses.

On the demand side, we have been taking action to raise awareness and understanding amongst UK smaller business of the business finance options available to them.

We have recently launched a new Finance Hub for high-growth businesses to find out about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success.

And if you are a smaller business trying to understand what your finance options are then the British Business Bank’s Business Finance Guide provides a comprehensive and unbiased view of all your finance options.

The guide is jointly published by the British Business Bank and Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, in partnership with 21 other business organisations. It describes which finance options are available to businesses at all stages, taking into consideration their future plans.

You can take the interactive journey or download a copy of the guide for free at www.thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk/bbb-tbfs, or like, follow and share content at www.facebook.com/TheBusinessFinanceGuide. The business finance guide is accessed by thousands of businesses every month.

Do you wish to grab a free copy of the Guide? Come along to EU & UK’s only funding exhibition, The Business Funding Show 2019, on 21 February at the East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf. It will be a one-stop-shop for all your funding needs! Learn more and secure tickets here‍