Caley takes the helm at Leicestershire peer-to-peer lender

Community Chest, the Leicesterhire peer-to-peer social lending initiative, has appointed Malcolm Caley (pictured) as managing director.

For the past six months Community Chest has been managed by Kevin Caley and Peter Brown whilst they continue in their roles as directors of ThinCats, but the successful raising of the first Community Chest loan for ART SHARE in Birmingham and arranging £2m of funding from Big Society Capital marked a turning point in the development of the  business and highlighted the need for a dedicated full-time director.

Malcolm Caley has worked with Peter Brown and Kevin Caley since the early days of ThinCats and before that on the Advantage Early Growth Fund.

Kevin Caley said: “The early investors in ThinCats were experienced business angel investors who were used to benefitting from Enterprise Investment Tax Relief. They often commented how attractive it would be if they could get similar tax relief when making loans. Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) does just that”.

Brown said: “Having proved the viability of the business model now is the time to give it the resources to grow. Establishing a pioneering initiative like Community Chest involves a huge marketing challenge because of the need to educate both investors and social entrepreneurs about the opportunity. As a team we already have a successful track record of delivering two disruptive business funding projects; in the Advantage Early Growth Fund and ThinCats, we will know we have succeeded when the radical idea becomes the norm.”