Moneyline hails 10,000 Small Businesses programme’s impact on growth
A NOT-FOR-PROFIT lender, set up to tackle financial exclusion in East Lancashire, is looking to raise £10m this year to fund a major growth drive.
Blackburn-based Moneyline is one of a number of social enterprises which have benefited from the innovative Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme.
As well as leaders being encouraged to set a robust strategy by working ‘on the business, not in the business’ being a delegate on the programme has helped it raise funds to grow.
Chief financial officer Diane Burridge explains: “The course material was really practical and the sessions allowed me to distill our USP [unique selling point] and do an analysis of our strengths and weaknesses. You start by taking the business apart and examining all of the elements and then building it back together.
“There was a transition period to make the business sustainable but also investment-ready, so we could say we are sustainable but also we can make a significant social impact if you invest in us,” she said.
Ms Burridge started pitching to investors last year whilst on the programme and since completing 10,000 Small Businesses, has raised £2m through major investors in the social investment space, which she says will enable her to grow the core business by 40%.
She wants to raise a further £10m through a second round in 2013 to open more branches and expand other ways of delivering the products and services in the next 18 months.
“The credibility of saying I was on the programme run by Goldman Sachs and MMU is powerful – they are clearly credible partners to work with,” she added.
Founded in 2001, Moneyline is now the largest not for profit lender in the UK, with 17 branches concentrated in the North West, as well as in South Wales, Humberside and Staffordshire.
It is looking to further expand its branch network and ways of trading – for example by offering services to repeat customers through the internet. It currently has around 20,000 customers a year and the ambition is to reach 100,000 by 2015.
It has grown steadily over the past few years and has 75 staff members – a 50% increase on last year. Turnover for the financial year ending 2012 was £9.5m – a 30% increase on 2011. The plan is for turnover in the core business to hit £25m by the end of 2015.
Funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation, 10,000 Small Businesses is a practical programme designed to help the leaders of established small businesses and social enterprises define and achieve their growth aspirations.
The supplement looks at some of the areas considered important to bolstering small business growth, such as networking and peer learning opportunities and the new ideas, knowledge and skills which are generated through the process.
