Member Article

Access to advice is key to small business success

The recent economic downturn gave credit a bad name among many SMEs in the UK, leading to a very guarded approach to borrowing. This has snowballed over the past couple of years into a real aversion among SME leaders to traditional forms of credit and borrowing. Unfortunately, recent research by AXA Business Insurance has shown that this has left almost half of small businesses reliant on credit cards and overdrafts to top up their cash reserves and keep them solvent. It’s a situation that needs to be resolved, but after the longest recession in UK history, knowledge about the sources of credit available to growing businesses is at an all time low.

The UK needs to do much more to educate its small business leaders on where they can turn for credit that will not only help them cover cashflow shortages and invest in their future, but come with free advice and support to help their businesses bloom and reach their potential. Many smaller, alternative finance providers have a pedigree and experience which is invaluable to growing UK SMEs but which sadly goes unused all too often.

By Tracy Ewen, managing director of IGF Invoice Finance

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by IGF .