Our 2023 Round Up!
2023 marked 20 years of Let’s Do Business Finance – and it was a year of recognising how far we have come as a Community Development Finance Institution. Our impact on the communities we serve, helping people to achieve their goals of launching and growing their own businesses, and creating jobs for local people to create and inspire economic growth.
A year that saw an increase in awareness of Let’s Do Business Finance and the difference we make to our clients, our team were delighted to be shortlisted and named by several organisations, including NatWest’s Top 100 UK social enterprises, and ‘The Rapid Riser’ and ‘The Problem Solver’ categories at the 2023 Sussex Chamber Awards.
As part of Let’s Do Business Group, Let’s Do Business Finance shares their mission of adding value to the communities we serve – encouraging investment, growth, and improving the lives and prospects of local people through skills and employment. In 2023, the economic value of services offered by Let’s Do Business Group, including Let’s Do Business Finance, totalled more than £35 million – a £14 million increase on 2022, and signalling our continuing dedication to providing a real and positive impact.
Reflect with us on our successes of the past year with our 2023 round-up – and if you want to read more about our impact as an organisation, take a look at our new Social Impact report!
Supporting Start Up and New Businesses
Across our finance products, we lent a total of £7,232,707 in the year of 2023. Expanding our lending portfolio, this included both Start Up Loans and Business Loans across the South East and East of England, with some loans even branching out to the West and North of the country. As a collective group, we were able to support new businesses with starting up and growing their new enterprises – 4349 of them, with some of these clients securing Start Up Loans to invest in their operations and get off to a flying start.
“When I got the finance approved it finally felt real and like it was happening…. It’s almost impossible for the average person to start a business, and that’s why the support from Let’s Do Business Group has been so good. They’re helping a lot of people out there!”
Start Up September™ - we’ve trademarked it!
We were delighted to also trademark the campaign Start Up September™ in 2023. An annual campaign that brings together all of the elements of support available from the Let’s Do Business Group, Start Up September™ highlights and amplifies support for new and start up businesses – including increased activity around Start Up Loans, free workshops and events focussing on equipping new business owners with the tools and knowledge they need to launch their business idea and be a success, as well as free 1:1 support with business advisors to seek advice on challenges they’re facing. This campaign and our trademark mark a continuing commitment by Let’s Do Business Group and Let’s Do Business Finance to champion start up businesses and create access to the support they need to start and run a successful enterprise.
Helping businesses to grow
Let’s Do Business Finance also played a part in the supporting of 1691 established businesses in growing their operations – jointly with Let’s Do Business Group, who worked in tandem to provide both business support and finance to SME’s across the South East and East of England.
Business Support, and Creating Access to Finance
Between 2022/23 we delivered a range of business support projects across the South East and East of England, that focussed on raising the visibility of available support and finance options for both new and established businesses and aiding their journey to growth.
As a subsidiary of not-for-profit organisation Let’s Do Business Group, Let’s Do Business Finance shares their goal of breaking down barriers to success for entrepreneurs. One of these barriers being access to finance and financial literacy for business owners, Let’s Do Business Group hosted several events throughout 2023 focusing on educating business owners and supporting them in their journey to not just understanding the financials of their business, but also applying for and successfully securing finance for their business.
Examples of this were the Finance for Non-Financial Entrepreneurs workshop courses, which were ran for businesses based in Southend on Sea and businesses based in districts covered by the North Essex Economic Board.
Across Let’s Do Business Group, who deliver several business support contracts in regions across the South and East of England, business skills workshops were also hosted throughout 2023, which included content covering financial topics such as accounting for new businesses, tax and more, as well as business skills like sales, marketing and strategy – providing an all-round support package for entrepreneurs to aid them in achieving their plans for their business.
“Thanks to Emily and the team at Let’s Do Business I am now able to move forward with my business and feel confident that I have the perfect space to grow and thrive”
As part of our ongoing initiative to support access to finance for more businesses, we’re increasingly working to spread awareness about finance options and resources available for business owners. Working closely with the British Business Bank, we supported the British Business Bank’s ‘Business Finance Week’ campaign in November 2023 – and helped to raise visibility of the support available for business owners to start and growing their businesses, as well as survive.
Supporting entrepreneurs and breaking down barriers
Across Let’s Do Business Finance and Let’s Do Business Group, we supported 550 female entrepreneurs in their goals of starting and growing a business in 2023. Part of our Social Impact strategy, we’re dedicated to reaching and supporting the underserved in our communities and giving them the tools and skills they need to be a success. Of the 550 female clients we supported, many of these female entrepreneurs secured business finance to invest in their business idea – and others benefitted from our free Start Up Business workshop, Her Biz, which is a funded initiative by NatWest to encourage female entrepreneurship in the counties of East Sussex and Kent.
As well as supporting female entrepreneurs and giving many women across the South East the confidence and skills they need to start their own enterprises, over 260 new clients from an ethnic background were supported in starting or growing their business by Let’s Do Business Group and its partner contracts in 2023.
Economic impact, beyond the numbers
2023 was a record year for the economic value of the services provided across Let’s Do Business Finance and Let’s Do Business Group. Not just referring to the numbers, our organisation and the work we do has had a positive impact that our communities can see – from new jobs created, to jobs safeguarded during a turbulent economic climate.
Through our services, we were able to help create 752 jobs – through believing in businesses, giving them the support they need to invest, innovate and move forward, and helping them to survive in a cost of living crisis.
Impact on the environment – committed to achieving Net Zero by 2030!
As well as working to broaden and break down the barriers to finance and skills for businesses, our own organisation is working to make a positive impact on the environment. With our commitment to meet Net Zero by 2030, we’ve made several changes across our sites and to our working practices – from the lightbulbs we use, our paper usage and our mileage, to planning for the future and how we can go further.
This year, we’ve started to plan to make the move towards even better working practices to reach Net Zero – we’re planting wildflower and bee-friendly areas in our managed office spaces, reducing our gas and electricity usage, and aiming for a year on year reduction in our corporate mileage by 20%!
We’re proud of all that we’ve achieved this year – and we’re dedicated to continuing our work to bettering the communities we serve by helping to create and safeguard local jobs, and support more people to start and grow their own businesses through new skills and access to finance.
