One in three North West business owners want to grow their businesses but are unsure how

Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund

A national poll commissioned by British Business Bank, the operators of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, has revealed that almost one third of North West businesses (31%) want to grow their business but are unsure of how best to achieve it.

Often, smaller businesses want to grow but just don’t consider, or know of, the alternative finance options available to them. The new polling reveals that almost one in five North West businesses (19%) are currently looking for sources of finance to support growth, however the majority (59%) of businesses surveyed had never considered or successfully accessed a wider range of finance options. This includes business loans, invoice finance, crowd-funding, venture capital, asset-based lending, or angel investment.

Business confidence is also high amongst those surveyed, with more than half (53%) of business owners saying they expect to increase their income/turnover in the next financial year, with only 2% expecting their income/turnover to decrease, compared to the national average of 8%.

The British Business Bank is committed to helping smaller business leaders understand and explore the full range of finance options available to them. The Bank recently launched its Finance Hub – a new interactive website dedicated to providing independent information on finance options – to help scale-up, high growth and potential high growth businesses.

Piers Linney, Non-Executive Director at British Business Bank, believes that businesses need to look beyond the high street to finance their growth: “Getting investment for your business does not have to be as scary as going into the Dragons’ Den. There are plenty of ways to get finance and access support – the challenge is knowing where to look, making the time to find out about them and getting investor ready.”

Keith Morgan, CEO at British Business Bank, said: “The financial landscape can be complex and confusing for smaller businesses trying to finance their growth ambitions. Today’s polling shows that too often smaller businesses want to grow but don’t know where to start, meaning we miss out on their growth.

“Our Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information about the finance options for high-growth smaller businesses. Its Finance Finder tool helps these small, high-growth businesses understand their finance choices and identify the right finance for them to grow and succeed.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.