Angels Den Blog

It’s official; we’re in the midst of a small business funding crisis in this country. Banks aren’t lending, seemingly frozen in fear of going the way of so many of their fallen peers, unwilling to relinquish the £billions that the government has given them specifically to stimulate business lending. What are we to do in the face of such illogical hoarding that is only likely to deepen and prolong the economic doom and gloom that we are now submerged in?

In the midst of a similar business funding crisis in the US, President Obama may have struck on a great idea. He has decided to place ownership of the solution squarely in the laps of the banking sector where the problem began. He has announced that the 21 largest banks that have received state funding to keep them afloat now must report monthly on how much money they are lending to small businesses. Every other bank that gets state money also has been asked to report on small business funding but on a quarterly basis. Wonderful, forcing the banks who have sucked up so many $billions of tax-payers money to do something in return, a task that has so far eluded our government as the banks have seemingly said thanks a lot for the generous donation to our coffers now go away and let us sit on our gold until we feel like doing something banking related in our own good time.
Obama appreciates that small businesses are major contributors to the economy and employment. With the $billions invested so far to stimulate business lending having had about the same effect as similar attempts in this country and US unemployment figures rising to their highest numbers since 1983, something drastic had to be done.

Here in the UK our unemployment figures are the worst since 1997 and whilst I have to admit Gordon has been trying to resolve the business funding crisis, he has been using the tactics of a wealthy parent attempting to buy the love of an unruly over-privileged child. Merely throwing money at the problem has had little real effect on business funding as yet and is unlikely to do so. Requiring the banks that have so readily drained the taxpayer’s generosity cup dry to do something positive to help us out of this crisis is an excellent step forward. It is agreed by most economists that helping new ventures to launch and grow is the most effective way of us repairing the problems in our economy, and getting the banking sector back into the business funding game is the way to go.

Whilst the papers have been full of the problems that the UK economy is facing and the failed attempts at stimulating bank landing there has been one ray of light for new enterprises and small businesses, and that is the growth of Angel investing as a viable alternative for small business funding. Angels Den has seen record numbers of entrepreneurs and small business investors signing up for an opportunity to meet one another and discuss the potential of a partnership. Exciting things have been happening, and because of the sheer volume of interest in what we are doing and the successes we have witnessed at many of our recent speedfunding events we are confident that even when the banking sector gets its act together the rise of Angels investment for small business funding will not be curbed. We are creating business success stories every week through building strong and profitable partnerships. If you would like to find out how we are doing this or when our next speedfunding or pitching training sessions are, then come to our website at www.angelsden.co.uk.

Image © Steve Rhodes