Sandra Patterson, director of Stranraer-based Kids Bee Happy, explains why the business should win the innovation in funding category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition.
Our company was two years old when we received a sales order from one of the largest private companies in the UK. The order required £40,000 of cash to manufacture the equipment and the stock required.
As a fairly young company, we didn’t have anywhere near that amount of cash in our bank accounts. And our personal credit profiles looked very similar to many other entrepreneurs who had started a business during the recession.
Banks couldn’t and wouldn’t do sales factoring because the goods hadn’t been produced and delivered.
Via a tweet from an alternative funding portal, we were put in contact with Chris Grunsell, managing director of Business Trade Finance. Chris works on an order by order basis, enabling us to pitch directly to the biggest customers, completely safe in the knowledge that the necessary funds will be there.
It’s an affordable, flexible method of finance which has completely enabled our business to grow.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
