Alternative finance is on the rise, yet more SMEs need to take note

As the alternative finance industry secures and strengthens its presence in the SME finance market, increasing numbers of business owners are choosing to ditch traditional high street banks. With banks turning their backs on SME businesses, many are now eager to explore the new opportunities opening up to them.

However, despite the success of alternative finance, there’s still a large part of the business community who still need convincing. Many developing businesses are still buying into a culture of trying to avoid external finance altogether, unaware of the harm they may be inflicting on their business’s growth and sustainability.

Why Alternative Finance?

By choosing to invest their own money, usually at the early stages of development, they’re ridding themselves of funds that they’ll need later. Consequently, they’re limiting their ability to undertake, and even complete, future projects vital to maintaining a steady rate of growth.

But to make matter worse, there are still businesses up and down the UK classed as permanent non-borrowers (PNBs). To not accept external funding at any stage of their development undoubtedly poses a detrimental threat to their long-term growth, sustainability and ability to compete. Without the necessary funding in place those businesses risk being overtaken by their competition, losing their customers and eventually suffering serious cash flow issues.

This can be put down to business owners choosing to adopt an overly cautious approach, but exploring their finance solutions should be the very least they do to preserve their business’s future prospects. In order to encourage even more business owners to explore the benefits that derive from alternative finance, the British Business Bank has previously released the British Finance Guide. However, despite the success of the alternative finance industry, it’s clear more still needs to be done if this section of the community is to be enticed by the benefits.

At Rangewell, we’re passionate about encouraging SMEs to delve in and seize the infinite possibilities created by the rise of alternative finance. We support a wide range of SME businesses of every shape and size, for finding every type of finance. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for business tips and tricks, and feel free to call us on 0203 637 2340 if you’d like to chat about what we can do for you.