Through pledging to the Investing in Women Code (IIWC) SWIG Finance is committing to supporting the advancement of female entrepreneurship. We will achieve this by helping to increase access to finance and support for female-led businesses.
The Code is an initiative proposed by the Rose Review, led by NatWest CEO Alison Rose. It outlines commitments to encourage the advancement of UK women entrepreneurs by improving access to tools, resources and finance.
According to the most recent annual report from IIWC, just 18% of businesses applying for business finance in 2021 were led by women. However, 58% were led by males.
Business finance is a catalyst for unlocking growth opportunities. At SWIG Finance, we believe that funding should be equally accessible to all business professionals regardless of their demographic.
Business growth is crucial for improving standards of living, as growth increases levels of employment and productivity. As well as this, it directly contributes to the growth of the UK’s economy. Consequently, without appropriate funding, businesses may need to slow their growth trajectories, or forgo growth all together.
In addition to finance, we offer support and guidance to all our customers for the duration of the loan. Our business managers will work with you to understand your business and your finance needs to help you reach your business goals.
As a signatory to IIWC, SWIG Finance commits to:
- Nominating a member of the senior leadership team responsible for supporting equality in all our organisation’s interactions with female entrepreneurs. That contact is Nicola Parker (nicola@swigfinance.co.uk)
- Providing a set of data about our lending activities and our staff and leadership team to an industry body designated by BEIS, on the understanding that BEIS will collate this data and publish it on an aggregated and anonymised basis in an annual report which surveys the state of the funding landscape for female entrepreneurs.
- Adopt internal practices that aim to improve female entrepreneurs’ access to the tools, resources and finance they need to grow their businesses, working with relevant players in the ecosystem, and review these practices annually.
By supporting the IIWC we are furthering our core mission to help create a more balanced financial eco-system in the South West.
About SWIG Finance
SWIG Finance is a non-profit company which supports viable Southwest businesses that can’t secure sufficient funding from their bank. By empowering underserved SMEs to overcome their financial barriers, we are working to create a more balanced financial eco-system.
We’re growing every year. In 2021/22, we lent £10.8m to 502 businesses, helping to create and secure over 1,000 jobs and generate £32.3m.
If you’d like an informal chat about your funding requirements, get in touch with the team to see how we can help: info@swigfinance.co.uk / 01872 227 930.