Former Arrow Fund boss launches consultancy
The former boss of a £2m fund backed by Advantage West Midlands and Birmingham City Council has launched her own finance consultancy. Alison Bradley, previously chief executive of The Arrow Fund, has set up Central Business Development.
The Arrow Fund, a loan guarantee scheme designed to fill a gap in the market for small loans, was closed last year following the government’s spending cuts.
Bradley’s new project aims to help small firms find finance through a range of funding opportunities including banks, the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme and regional funding.
Bradley said: “We acknowledge that finance can be more difficult to arrange in the present climate - so business owners and new businesses will need the services of finance specialists even more so.
“Those that are starting up and in certain sectors will find it incredibly difficult to raise business finance.
“Our uniqueness is that we work with a vast range of lenders, banks included, but also utilise an array of private and public sector schemes to create a package of finance to make the deal work.”
She said that one of the first grants the organisation secured was worth £200,000 for a bakery in Staffordshire, which will create 20 jobs.
