City region Finance Hub helps more than 2,000 SMEs
Originally founded by Liverpool business loan and equity provider MSIF in 2017, the LCR Finance Hub offers free and impartial funding and business advice. Tony McDonough reports
A team set up in 2017 to offer free and impartial funding and business advice to Liverpool city region businesses has now supported more than 2,000 SMEs.
Originally founded by Liverpool business loan and equity provider MSIF in 2017, the LCR Finance Hub (previously known as the MSIF Finance Hub) is now building on this performance as it looks to assist more of the regions SMEs.
Additional support has been secured from the Growth Platform – the Liverpool city region growth company alongside that already provided by MSIF, to allow the hub to further increase its scale, with a pilot initiative having now commenced.
The pilot scheme will see the Hub build on its offering as an independent gateway for growing businesses across the city region to access free and impartial funding and business advice, whilst working collaboratively with an extensive network of contacts.
As part of this pilot scheme, the hub has expanded its team with the appointment of Lynsey Barnes as business finance specialist. She will work closely with finance hub lead George Wright.
Ms Barnes’ is an experienced investment manager. She said: “I am thrilled to be joining the LCR Finance Hub team. I feel that there is a real appetite from businesses across the region looking for a simplified approach to funding without the complexity, and that’s exactly what we are looking to do.
“The Liverpool city region is fast becoming a beacon for both emerging businesses and startups and I am delighted to be part of that movement and help influence some positive growth.”
Mr Wright added: “It’s great to have the continued support of MSIF in addition to Growth Platform. With this support and the much-welcomed addition of Lynsey to the team, we can grow our services to further target those business who could begin and scale with our help.
Click here to find out more about the LCR Finance Hub.