Finding Business Funding Sources
Finding business funding sources is an important step in any business. There needs to be some sort of investment to put into the business to get it up and running, but it can be difficult to raise if you don’t already have it. There are many places that these business funding sources are located and some are closer to home that you realize.
One of the better business funding sources that exist are within friends and family. There are a few reasons for this. First, family and friends even though you may not want to approach them will have more motivation to help you. They will want to see you succeed without having any other reason than to be proud of you. The second reason is that when you receive money from these individuals there usually isn’t any interest. The third reason is that you will not have to go through the paperwork that you would with other business funding sources. There are no deadlines to meet and no documents to show. One piece of advice if you will be using family and friends as one of your business funding sources is to make an agreement with them for repayment terms and stick to it because you don’t want to ruin relations for this cause.
If you can’t raise the funds from friends and family there are many other business funding sources. Banks and finance companies that that offer funding for businesses are in the hundreds and they all have something different to offer. Some are considered better business funding sources for starting up a company, while others serve expansions better. There are a few banks that offer these funds, and they include Barclays, Abbey, and HSBC. They also have business accounts that you can set up for the business that offer free services.
Other banks that serve as business funding sources that have recently increased the amount of monies available to business are the central banks such as the Bank of England. It is their goal to help boost the economy through funding businesses. The ECB, Bank of England and other UK banks are all joining this effort which makes it a little easier for you to obtain some of this funding that you need. Over time you will probably see the trend of more entrepreneurs looking in this direction for business funding sources.
Certain financial lending institutes such as Cavendish Management Resources are good business funding sources. Not only do they help you obtain the funding that you need, they also offer counselling for better business management. They have hundreds of contacts that they will sort through to find the most suitable one for you. There are other such business funding sources that offer similar services. When you are looking through them, take a look to see which one covers the largest amount of angles that you need to have taken care of in your business.
Bibby Financial Services is one of the business funding sources that will give a boost to your business quicker than most institutes. This is a great option for those who need the money for immediate spending. They have over 340 million pounds available to provide for business funding and are quick to make their decision of whether to invest in your project. They have a number of different solutions for you to choose from and apply for. They will provide assistance as to which one would be more appropriate for your business. Choosing Bibby from the many business funding sources does provide for those situations which may be considered an emergency. They currently help more than 4500 businesses with these difficult financial circumstances.
You can also use various governmental bodies as business funding sources. The European Commission is one of the biggest distributers of monies towards supporting business growth. There are also business funding sources that include the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Executive, and others that cater to local businesses. There is a lot of competition for these but many of these funds are grants and do not have to be repaid which means that it is better for you if you can target and receive one of these.
If you are having trouble finding the appropriate business funding sources for you, there are many guides and directories that you can take advantage of. One excellent site to help you find business funding sources is found at www.grant-guide.com. It is a huge database of pan-European institutes that can lend or give you the funds as well as offer counselling and advice. To obtain the full benefits of GUIDE, you have to subscribe to a specific country branch of this site, but that is a fairly simple task. It is partly funded by the European Commission so you can be sure that every institute involved in this program is legitimate. It has taken two years to develop it to the level that it is at right now, but the amount of information not to mention the business funding sources that you will have access are really outstanding.
GrantsNet is another one of the business funding sources that are available to businesses, but is also there for charities as well. On this page, you have to perform a search or click on one of the links at the bottom of the page, and it will lead you to the links of many different funding projects and programs. For this site, your search needs to be a little more specific than other guides or directories because there aren’t categories included on the page, but the results will bring a variety of business funding sources for you to look through.
Through these different business funding sources, you should be able to fund something to help you through those hard financial times, whether it is for starting up a business, expanding one, or buying one. There are many to choose from, just be sure to gather the appropriate documentation and write a proposal and business plan. These are necessary when applying for any type of business funding.