SME supporter The FSE Group to boost social enterprise funding
Across the Thames Valley and beyond, many ambitious SMEs have reason to be thankful for the expertise and support of The FSE Group
Working in partnership with, among others, the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (TVB LEP), the organisation offers funding solutions to the tune of around £250,000 to a wide range of budding businesses and entrepreneurs.
And, with the upturn in the economy, chief executive Kevan Jones, says the Group is already on target to support 80-100 companies this year alone.
“What is encouraging is that we are seeing a lot more activity from SMEs whose management teams are now thinking seriously about expanding and need to put funding plans in place,“ he said.
“In the first two months of the year we will already have supported 15 companies and we know that there are a lot of really ambitious businesses out there that we would like to be talking to during the year.“
Showing particularly strong growth potential in the Thames Valley region he says, are those companies in the data, software and wider technology fields; while on the South Coast a host of creative companies are building a good track record of development success.
In addition to working with TVB LEP, The FSE Group also partners with other LEPs, including Enterprise M3 and Coast to Capital, enabling it to support a wide arc of businesses across the region. Further afield it also works with other LEPs in the east of England, most notably New Anglia.
The various funds and services are delivered via a number of subsidiary companies under The FSE Group umbrella. At its heart is FSE CIC, an independent not-for-profit community interest company, whose surpluses are reinvested into the business to provide further support, such as a free mentoring service, to SMEs and social enterprises.
Jones says that although the majority of SMEs it funds are looking for investment or loans of up to £250,000, as they grow, the organisation helps signpost them towards other partners; such as private equity houses, business angel networks, or banks who can support future rounds of funding. In some cases it will identify suitable non-executives.
Although keen to stay in the “early stage market“, where he says the “true gap“ exists for SMEs, Jones reveals there are also proposals to enable The FSE
Group to continue to support businesses further along their growth chain, potentially providing equity funding up to £2 million.
Barclays provides banking facilities for The FSE Group. Relationship director Andy Wernham, says the “bank is pleased to play its part in helping to support the region’s aspirational SME businesses“.
Jones explained: “Barclays was the first bank we worked with but, over time, because of the various organisations we partnered, we had ended up with three different banks and we were struggling with all the various systems.
“We have over 15 companies in the Group, so with the collection of payments due and monies going out in the form of new loans and investments, it was quite a complicated affair. In 2014, Barclays’ corporate banking team was able to bring in a new system, and successfully implement a consolidation programme to streamline activity.“
As well as providing operational support, Jones says the Group has access to Barclays’ treasury team and attends the bank’s economic briefings. He describes it as a “classic“ banking relationship, adding: “I know they are there and will support us as best they can,“ something that may be particularly important as the Group offers more substantial funding for growing businesses.
At the same time as helping SMEs, The FSE Group is also expanding its programme of activity and moving into the social enterprise space.
With funding of £10m from Big Society Capital, it is targeting businesses, organisations and communities with a focus on scalable social enterprises.
Included in its support is a social impact accelerator programme, which provides loan finance for regulated social enterprises, including the trading arms of charities.
Jones says the move into the social enterprise arena came when the organisation realised there was a growing need for funding to enable groups to move ahead with larger projects.
“We invested up to two years of our time to understand social impact finance and the way relationships could work. Our view is that whether it is a social enterprise or an SME, they both need the same quality of business management skills in order to be capable of growth and their funding requirements are similar too.
Barclays is a trading name of Barclays Bank PLC and its subsidiaries. Barclays Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register No 122702). Registered in England. Registered number is 1026167 with registered office at 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP. March 2015.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – APRIL 2015 Kevan Jones
“Given our work with SMEs we felt we were in a position to be able to do something to help,“ he concluded.
Among those already receiving support is an organisation which works with many hard to reach families, helping some 100,000 so far. With additional funding in place, the social enterprise hopes to help a further 50,000 families over the next three years.
Another group is putting in place a network of centres around London to train apprentices for the construction industry.
The FSE Group is keen to welcome new applications from both regional and national social enterprise groups and businesses.
Details:
Kevan Jones
kevan.jones@
thefsegroup.com 01276-608527
www.thefsegroup.com
Andy Wernham
andy.wernham@barclays.com 07775-545697
www.barclayscorporate.com
business success
The views expressed in this article are the views of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Barclays Bank PLC Group nor should they be taken as statements of policy or intent of the Barclays Bank PLC Group. The Barclays Bank PLC Group takes no responsibility for the veracity of information contained in the third part guides or articles and no warranties or undertakings of any kind, whether express or implied, regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information given. The Barclays Bank PLC Group takes no liability for the impact of any decisions made based on information contained and views expressed.
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