Last week, our SimpliFi team was in Spinningfields, Manchester, with pro-manchester for the 'Understanding Finance for Business Growth' event.
Along with GC Business Finance, the team shared insights with the small-medium-sized (SME) business audience to help them understand the fundamentals of business finance.
GC colleagues Ian Dixon (Senior Business Advisor - Access to Finance, GM Business Growth Hub) and Andy Nichols (Fund Manager at GC Business Finance), alongside Belinda Yu (Co-Founder at Wicker Wings) and Jess Grocutt (Enterprise Acceleration Manager, NatWest Group) shared insights as to where to begin when starting your business finance journey.
SimpliFi is an online portal designed by GC which launched at the end of 2023. It was created to help business owners understand the finance options available to help them launch and grow by providing a hub of business finance information - built up by experts with more than 30 years of experience working within the Greater Manchester finance and funding space.
Sarah Wilkinson, GC Marketing Manager for SimplFi, walks us through what happened at the event:
"Yesterday’s Pro-Manchester event ‘Understand Finance for Business Growth’ at Michael Page hosted by SimpliFi was a great success with a full room of budding entrepreneurs. I could feel the 'positive entrepreneurial energy' as I entered the room – even at 8am on a Tuesday morning. There was a sense of excitement and bustling networking happening. Plus, there was a delicious breakfast spread and decent coffee available, which is always welcome.
"Steven Green, Junior Digital Product Manager for SimpliFi hosted the event and told the story about how SimpliFi started, and how the platform can benefit businesses who are struggling to understand the complicated world of business finance.
"Ian Dixon started the panel discussion by sharing his in-depth knowledge on equity funding and provided real life examples of how he has worked with SMEs. Belinda Yu of Wicker Wings talked about working with GM Business Growth Hub and how she started her finance journey. She shared tips and lessons that she has learnt along the way. GC Business Finance’s Andy Nichols answered the all-important question ‘If you were self-employed and looking to access a loan, how might you approach this?’ and how he supports businesses across Greater Manchester. Jess Grocutt talked in depth about the NatWest Accelerator Programme, and how she goes about supporting and inspiring entrepreneurs and businesses.
"Next, the entire panel discussed start-ups, navigating the fundraising landscape and what the main differences are between seeking equity funding, debt financing, and applying for grants. They went on to discuss how entrepreneurs can determine which options are the most suitable for their stage of growth and business model. The floor was open to questions during this discussion."
