Community lending specialist BCRS Business Loans added almost £30m in value to the economy through funding delivered in the last financial year, new figures show.
BCRS Business Loans, which works across the West Midlands, surrounding areas and Wales helping SMEs unable to access finance from traditional sources, supported 72 businesses, safeguarding 675 jobs and creating 186 roles, according to the latest impact report.
At the annual general meeting at Wolverhampton Science Park, chief executive Stephen Deakin updated members of the society on the co-operative business loan lending performance in the 2023-24 financial year.
Unveiled at the meeting, the impact report showed BCRS Business Loans lent £5.8m to 72 businesses, safeguarding 675 jobs and creating 186 roles while adding £29.9m in value to the economy of the West Midlands, surrounding region and Wales. Manufacturing businesses borrowed the largest amount by sector, totalling £1m.
Of the funding, 43 per cent went to the UK’s top 35 per cent most disadvantaged areas, with 18 per cent going to female-led businesses and 18 per cent to ethnic minority-led firms.
As a Community Development Finance Institution, BCRS Business Loans operates as a non-profit distributing company through a story-based approach to lending, enabling firms to access finance from between £10,000 and £250,000 to help grow and support recovery plans.
Mr Deakin said: “It was another challenging year economically but as a responsible lender we continued to lend when it was the right thing to do. Demand for lending has picked up significantly, which is promising for the current year.
“On the Trustpilot reviews platform, we continue to average five stars after more than 400 reviews, which shows how much compassion we give our borrowers, even when they are going through difficult times.”
The most recent financial year saw BCRS Business Loans named as a fund manager for smaller loans as part of the £130m Investment Fund for Wales to increase the supply of finance to Welsh businesses which might otherwise not receive investment.
Chair Paul Smee told the AGM that expansion into Wales would build on the impact in the West Midlands. He said: “We are taking what has proved so successful here and giving new customers the chance of benefiting from it. Our ethical compass is unchanged and unwavering. We will carry the standards by which we currently do business into our new responsibilities.”
The AGM was also told BCRS Business Loans has reinforced its support of the advancement of female entrepreneurship by making a pledge to the Investing in Women Code, a commitment backed by the UK Government to improve access to the tools, resources and finance women entrepreneurs need to achieve their goals.
In July, loans totalling £1m were delivered in a single calendar month to 14 businesses looking to grow and create jobs. Launched in 2002, BCRS has lent more than £90m since then.
The value statistics in the impact report are calculated using the Responsible Finance Economic Impact Calculator, originally prepared by the Centre for Business in Society (CBIS) at Coventry University with assistance from James Medhurst at ICF International, with the support of Citi.
Read the impact report here: www.bcrs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Impact-Report-202324-Final.pdf
