Small Business Loans and Financing

There are plenty of costs associated with growing a business, so the chances are you’ll need to raise business funding at some point in its lifetime. But what is the best business finance option for you?

It almost goes without saying that you should research your business funding options thoroughly; keep in mind that what is right for one business may not be right for another.

Calculate how much business funding you will need and why before weighing-up where the money should come from. Borrowing too much could put your business under financial strain, while too little capital could inhibit your business’ growth instead of boosting it.

Grants are a great source of small business funding – if you can get hold of one – because they are as close to free money as you can get. The bad news is that it’s notoriously difficult to convince support groups that you’re worthy of a grant.

Grants are awarded for small business funding for a number of reasons. Businesses located in deprived areas, benefit the community (social enterprises) or are especially innovative may all qualify.

They can be awarded for particular projects and may be structured to subsidise aspects of your business rather than fund the whole operation. They might also go towards specific business tasks such as exporting, training or developing new products.

To make matters more complicated, there is a huge range of business finance grant-giving organisations, each with its own remit to boost the local, regional, national and even international economy.

A selection of charities, as well as government groups and the European Union will give money to deserving companies. Each has a defined budget and a unique application procedure, so be prepared to do some legwork for your money.