SWIG Finance: Funding Growing SMEs

As the South West’s dedicated Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI), SWIG Finance supports the growth aspirations of smaller and earlier-stage businesses that can’t find the support they need from mainstream lenders.

CDFIs operate a fundamentally different business model from traditional shareholder-driven financial institutions, in that our profits are reinvested to support our mission to help underserved businesses realise their full potential.

Rather than compete with the banks, we lend to businesses that fall outside the radar of mainstream lenders due to finance criteria or automated credit scoring methods. As our decisions are made by people, not computers, we can lend by looking at the bigger picture, and our locally based business managers employ a relationship-focused approach which makes us well-placed to understand our customers’ finance and wider business needs.

Traditional lenders often judge businesses on historic performance which, for growing businesses, can be far from where the business is now or where it’s heading.

Assessing a business on its current merit and future opportunities means that we can support projection-led businesses that demonstrate a stronger forecasted performance compared to previous years. By gaining an understanding of what sits behind the forecasts, such as contracts won and sales pipeline, we can base our decisions on the credibility of the forecasts.

Non-financial factors also play a role in our assessment; an experienced and committed management team with a background in the industry gives greater confidence that they can lead the business through this transition.
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If your business has growth aspirations but needs extra funding to take advantage of its opportunities, please do get in touch on hello@swigfinance.co.uk or 01872 227 930.

About SWIG Finance
SWIG Finance is a non-profit company that supports viable South West businesses that can’t secure sufficient funding from their bank. By empowering underserved SMEs to overcome their financial barriers, we are working to create a more balanced financial ecosystem.
 
We’re growing every year. In 2021/22, we lent £10.8m to 502 businesses, helping to create and secure over 1,000 jobs and generate £32.3m. For more information visit https://www.swigfinance.co.uk/social-impact-report-2022/