Business Growth, Advice for Small Sized Business, How to Sell Your Business, Tips to Grow Your Business: Pembridge Partners

Business Secretary Vince Cable Says Banks Are Deceiving Small Business Firms

The government is naive in thinking that banks are not lending because they are making it difficult.   The issue has to be tackled in two ways – the banks need more confidence to lend, sure but also the businesses need to be in better shape when they go to a bank for money.
If you ask a bank to lend a business just working capital to see it through ‘a difficult time’ then the bank is not going to lend especially if the business owners are not putting anything at risk themselves – i.e. the dreaded security issue.
However if the business went to the bank with a proper well thought through plan with investment requirement set out clearly and the impact it is likely to have on the business along with what they are prepared to put up as risk – then the banks are much more likely to lend.
The question the government should be tackling is how we equip are SME’s with the necessary skills to be able to go to the banks with an attractive investment proposition but all we have heard from the current government is cuts to SME business support - we have yet to hear what they are going to do to ensure we encourage an enterprise economy where entrepreneurs are supported in launching and growing the businesses of the future.

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Gateway to investment opens once again

London, England - Next Thursday sees another introductory session for the g2i (gateway2investment) program that's helped hundreds of companies in the capital raise finance for growth. With over £30M raised to date, signing up is a no-brainer for anyone looking to grow a business fast, writes Hugh Mason.

Oops – I'm a boss! The art of following through ...

Getting stuck into running a business, not sitting around talking about it, is part of the essence of entrepreneurship. But what about the folk who follow through on the Big Ideas to make them real, or those who never set out to lead in the first place? Pembridge is backing two new programmes that aim to consolidate the experience of “Accidental Leaders” and “Accidental Managers,” writes Hugh Mason.

New training business wins major contract to boost the UK’s digital industries

Pembridge Partners has supported a new management training business which launches this month having won a major public sector training contract against strong competition.

Pembridge supports Nordic Council of Ministers' move to shape Creative Industries Policy

Stockholm, Sweden - Pembridge Partner Hugh Mason has focused for the last five years on connecting the macro-economic growth priorities of public sector agencies with the microeconomic perspective of individual SMEs. In his presentation to today's Kreadnord conference, he shared two key elements of that work: Firstly, the pattern of growth that has emerged through working with a large sample of SMEs across different countries and secondly, the quantitative benchmarking approach that Pembridge has devised to help public agencies and SMEs themselves to assess their state of development, strengths and weaknesses, and their options for the future. Despite the wide variety of businesses that operate in the ‘Creative Industries,’ the work of Hugh and his colleagues suggests that it is possible to see a consistent pattern in SME development and to make robust interventions that will lead to solid economic outcomes.

North East’s Creative companies invited to step forward for investment

Newcastle, England –- NStar, an innovative investment and enterprise development company working with One North East, announced today that it has launched a new phase in its programme to channel investment into the region's most exciting creative businesses. Up to 200 design and creative industry companies will be offered a free benchmarking and diagnostic report to assess demand for investment. These companies will then be in a strong position to pursue growth finance of up to £120,000 per company from a total round of £1.2 million from the NStar Design and Creative Fund. If demand proves strong, the scheme will be expanded over the next two years.

Creating Success for North East Media companies

Newcastle, England -- Northern Film & Media today launched a new £100,000 company development scheme, devised in partnership with Pembridge, which aims to help businesses from the North East of England's moving image sector to achieve success.

Pembridge leads g2i expansion into the creative industries

Pembridge is to play a key role extending the successful gateway2investment (g2i) programme into the Creative Industries, it was announced today by the London Development Agency (LDA). g2i provides investment-readiness expertise and support to London's start-up and early stage companies. The £1.7 million programme will be delivered by a consortium comprising Pembridge Partners, E-Synergy, Grant Thornton, The Innovatory, Library House and Quotec.

Pembridge helps tie up Manchester's Loop Academy

Manchester, England - Pembridge collaborated with Creative Industries Development Services (CIDS) on a series of workshops aimed at bringing together creative businesses in the greater Manchester area to share insight. Under the heading of "Loop Academy" (following on from the successful "Loop" networking seminars) so far 3 series of several workshops have been organised. The audience consists of owners and managers of creative firms and the issues addressed range from branding, IP, new business development to funding & finance.

Pembridge co-delivers Design Your Future

Bristol, England - Pembridge collaborated with Arts Matrix to deliver a workshop today aimed at helping small and medium-sized design consultancies acquire the skills, tools and knowledge to move from lifestyle business to growth business. Pembridge worked closely with Emma Collins, an independent consultant based in Bristol, in facilitating workshops on the process of business planning.