The Bank and HM Treasury launched the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) in 2012. The FLS is designed to encourage banks and building societies to boost their lending to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK. It does this by letting banks and building societies borrow funds from it cheaply, so that they […]
7 Steps to Success for Entrepreneurs
We were very interested to recently read some interviews on BBC’s website with entrepreneurs of high tech companies. Each of the “Tech Titans” interviewed had invaluable advice to impart to any entrepreneur or small business owner, whatever sector they are in. Here is our summary of seven of the key points made: New businesses can […]
What’s in the Autumn Statement for small businesses?
George Osborne’s recent Autumn Statement hit the headlines primarily for his unexpected decision to scrap his planned £4.4 billion cut to tax credits, which are the second highest welfare cost, topped only by the cost of the state pension. His rationale was that the stability of the economy and the holding of interest rates at […]
Crowdfunding
These days we keep hearing about “crowdfunding”. In this article we look at what it is and whether it has a role to play in small business funding. Crowdfunding is a way of raising funds by asking as many people as possible to contribute a small amount of money to a project or cause. It […]
Hired or Fired?
As it reaches its final stages, fans of The Apprentice are now deeply divided as to who should become Lord Sugar’s next business partner. At Fair Business Loans – as our name implies – we do strive to be impartial, but thought it would be useful to highlight some of the lessons learned from the […]
How is your Online Presence?
A recent blog featured the growing tradition of Black Friday in the UK and the opportunity to offer special deals to customers. Hot on the heels of Black Friday comes Cyber Monday! It rounds off the weekend after Black Friday with the opportunity to scoop up some great deals online. This year Cyber Monday – […]
SMEs are Key to UK’s Productivity Challenge
A report recently published by Goldman Sachs, British Business Banks and Enterprise Research Centre, Unlocking UK Productivity shows that SMEs may be the key to economic growth in the UK. Productivity is ultimately how efficient the firm is, how much output for a given level of input, which is measured in GDP per hour […]
Spinning Plates!
As a small business owner there are so many things to think about, it’s a bit like one of those circus acts where someone is rushing around spinning plates. No sooner has one been saved then another is about to crash! As well as your actual product or service, there are all the logistics of […]
Let’s Talk About Data
With the recent Talk Talk scandal ringing in our ears, let’s focus for a few minutes on data security. As a small business owner you need to make sure that your customers’ data is safe and secure, and also that you take just as much care about your business data than you would about your […]
Don’t Believe all you read!
At Fair Business Loans we were interested to read this week that the retail giant Amazon is taking legal action against 1,114 people it says have posted fake reviews on its website. Amazon says the 1,114 defendants – as yet unknown – offer a false review service via websites such as Fiverr.com, promising five-star reviews […]
