The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK, and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.
The British Business Bank’s core programmes support over £8.5bn of finance to almost 95,000 smaller businesses. Between March 2020 and March 2021, the British Business Bank was responsible for running the government’s Coronavirus business loan schemes, delivering £80.4bn of finance to 1.67m businesses.
As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses. The British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. In light of the coronavirus pandemic and EU Exit, the Finance Hub has expanded and it now targets a wider business audience. It continues to provide information and support for scale-up, high growth and potential high growth businesses with increased content, information and products for businesses in survival and recovery mindsets.
Our objectives are to:
– Increase the supply of finance to smaller businesses
– Help create a more diverse finance market for smaller businesses
– Identify and help reduce regional imbalances in access to finance
– Encourage and enable smaller businesses seek the finance best suited to their needs
– Be the centre of expertise on smaller business finance in the UK
– Achieve its other objectives while managing taxpayers’ money efficiently
– Support the UK’s transition to a net zero economy
Whether you’re looking for finance to start a business, grow to the next level, or stay ahead of the competition, the British Business Bank is delivering greater volume and choice of finance for UK businesses.
Susan Elliott, Senior Manager for the UK Network (South East) at the British Business Bank said: “We are delighted to be supporting Venturefest Oxford this year, especially after the tough economic challenges faced by British businesses throughout the coronavirus pandemic. We are really looking forward to meeting visitors to the event, both in person and on-line, and helping smaller businesses looking to start up and grow understand their options and access the finance they need to succeed.”
