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I was first introduced to Foundation East while I was working for Northgate (the vehicle hire company) in East Anglia. There were immediate networking benefits but I soon came to appreciate the fantastic work that this organisation carries out both in local business lending and Community Land Trusts. It was not long before I [...] The challenges faced by small businesses in accessing finance have been well documented. And now the focus has switched to the alternatives to bank credit – such as crowdfunding, asset finance and invoice discounting. But there is another alternative, an option that 13,000 businesses turned to last year. Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) operate [...] So often that moment of inspiration, that great idea for a business venture and the excitement that goes with it drifts away as you start thinking about how you can make it happen At one level starting a business right now is about attitude. It takes courage, determination, self belief and the drive but [...] The pro-active support and advice that HMRC has given to the public in general and to business people in particular over recent years via their customer facing staff has been excellent. The courses that they have run have been extremely useful and most informative. They have been a God send for many people starting [...] SupportingU is a specialist environmental engineering company, based in St. Albans, Herts. The company, which was established in 2005 by David Mackay installs, refurbishes and maintains air quality monitoring equipment. The advantages for SupportingU are that they are one of only six suppliers in the UK and their strict internal control procedures and independence [...] Limited liability companies are such a fact of life, both in the UK and around the world, that one does not often stop to think about why that is, and whether it is unarguably a good thing. This may sound slightly heretical but recently I have been doing just that. For me it has [...] When former professional cyclist Matt Rump, then unemployed, decided to repair some old bicycles rusting at the bottom of his garden and sell them for spare parts on eBay, it was the first step towards him setting up a successful business in Kessingland, Suffolk. Two years later and as a sole trader running a [...] Nick Clegg has spoken this week of the need to extend the Funding for Lending scheme and “put it on steroids”. George Osborne, Vince Cable and the Bank of England are also desperate to get the scheme working for small businesses. In the last quarter of 2012 bank lending slumped by £2.4bn. But do [...] ‘Keep up’ dear; those words will remain with me forever. Being the youngest of three and by far the smallest, I was constantly trying to ‘keep up’ with my elder siblings. Be that walking, running, cycling, swimming, eating or any of those basic things in life. However, it certainly made me learn quickly, [...] Affordable homes for local people are a step closer thanks to a new scheme that is giving communities a chance to plan, own and manage their own housing associations in ways that will be locally accountable, keep rents down and bring wider benefits to their neighbourhoods. Like many villages, Stretham near Ely is facing [...] |
Katy Ford, Chief Executive
Peter Jones, Chair, Board of Directors
Peter Wood, Business Loans Manager
Bob Shimmon, Business Loans Manager |
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