SWIG Finance

📢 Our 2024/25 Impact Report is out, and this year we are celebrating record lending! 💷 £14.8m lent   🌱 £75.7m Social Impact generated   💚£3.4m Lent to businesses in deprived areas   🚀 413 Start Ups created   ♀️ 35% lent to women-led businesses   🫶🏽13% lent to ethnic minority-led businesses SWIG’s MD John Peters commented, “It has been another remarkable year for SWIG Finance. All this is only possible thanks to our incredible team, board, funders and stakeholders. Together, we’re not just providing finance—we’re fueling ambition, resilience, and regional growth. Here’s to even more growth, impact, and success stories in the year ahead!” Download the report here: https://lnkd.in/ebwW2KUv #SocialImpact #ImpactLed #AlternativeFinance #CommunityFinance #BusinessLoans #StartUpLoans #GrowthCapital #Refinance #ProductDevelopment #PurchaseEquipment #BusinessAcquisitions #FounderFinance #TechInvestment #ProjectionLed #CDFI 

⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Congratulations to our Business Manager, Charlotte Ford, who has received this amazing 5-Star Google Review from one of her customers! Find out more about Charlotte here: https://lnkd.in/ebFKyDYy #SWIGnificant #TeamSWIG

Did you know the South West Investment Group has supported small businesses for 35 years? Since 1990, we’ve helped thousands of businesses access funding to grow. Many of these businesses were excluded from mainstream finance, and our funding provided them with a lifeline. SWIG Finance is a not-for-profit distributing organisation, which means that we reinvest our profits to improve our services and support more businesses each year. Find out more about what we do, and why we do it, in our recently published impact report: https://lnkd.in/en92csZU #ImactLed #ImpactLender #AlternativeFinance #CDFI #BusinessLoans

Somerset social housing maintenance specialist, Baillie Reynolds, has been able to shave £14,000 a month of its outgoings to be reinvested into business growth, thanks to help from a £250,000 loan from the Community Investment Enterprise Fund (CIEF) via SWIG Finance. Managing Director, David Reynolds, was introduced to SWIG’s Business Manager, Rachael Taylor, by broker Wayne Bell at Aureum Finance. Of the funding, David commented: “SWIG Finance’s purpose-driven values were well-aligned with our own values, and it was great to find a lender that cares as much as we do about generating positive social impact,” “While there was the due diligence you would expect – and coming out of COVID, our accounts weren’t at their strongest – the final decision to lend and support our works was not based on numbers, but on the fact that SWIG fully understood what we do.”. Read the case study here: https://lnkd.in/e9DwnHez #CIEF #CommunityInvestment #SocialHousing #PurposeDriven #Impact #SocialImpact #BusinessLoan #CDFI #Refinance #Somerset #NorthEastSomerset Social Investment Scotland, Chris Jamieson, Nicola Boyle, Better Society Capital, Lydia Swift, Victoria Crisp, Triodos Bank, Ellie James, Ed Grattan

📢 SWIG Finance is excited to announce the appointment of Matthew Wilde as its new Managing Director! Matt succeeds current MD, John Peters, who has led SWIG Finance since 2013 and has been with the SWIG Group since 1998.    Matt describes himself as a people-person and problem solver and is looking forward to bringing his skills and experience together to spearhead future growth at SWIG Finance. Of his new role, Matt commented “I am motivated by SWIG’s mission and excited to join the team in the next chapter of SWIG’s evolution – scaling reach, strengthening delivery, and supporting more SMEs. Having grown up in the South West, I am delighted to be returning to the region.  “What drew me to this role was the SWIG Finance team’s passion and commitment to impact lending. I’m excited to work alongside the board, the wider team, and SWIG’s stakeholders to help drive forward its mission and amplify its impact”.’ SWIG Group’s Chairperson, christine allison, added: “As a Board, it was crucial to find a successor to John Peters who shares SWIG’s values, and who has the passion and drive to lead our efforts to support more SMEs throughout the greater South West with their financial needs. We are confident we have found that ideal combination in Matt.” This successful recruitment campaign was led by Vanessa Moon & Simon Quinn at Moon Executive Search. Read the press release here: https://lnkd.in/eVz3XRK8 #CDFI #SWIGnificant #TeamSWIG #BusinessGrowth #Succession #BusinessLoans 

It's great to see British Business Bank's Growth Guarantee Scheme generating such impressive results! SWIG Finance is an accredited Growth Guarantee Scheme lender. We have Business Loans from £25,001 to £250,000 available, which are designed to support access to finance for small businesses as they look to invest and grow. https://lnkd.in/eXFPM367

We provide Start Up Loans to businesses trading for up to three years! Start Up Loans helps entrepreneurs with finance and hands-on support. The loans can be used for a variety of purposes. Here are some examples of customers we’ve supported recently:    🚀 Launch a franchise – https://lnkd.in/eTPpNuQK  📷 Purchase equipment – https://lnkd.in/eNf2ykYf  🥯 Open new sites – https://lnkd.in/e5tvQA8V  🥤 Diversify offering – https://lnkd.in/eWAKn4Xs  👟 Prototypes – https://lnkd.in/eYiCQt3B  🍫 Invest in Marketing – https://lnkd.in/eh75V3fq  👕 Match Funding – https://lnkd.in/eiiR2jb8  📖 Set up a Shop – https://lnkd.in/eKKF_4UX    Our team of friendly Start Up Loan Advisors are here to guide you through the application process. To find out more about Start Up Loans, visit our website: https://lnkd.in/dCBkh_Y #StartUp #StartUpLoan #StartUpFunding #StartUpFinance #Entrepreneur 

We’d like to congratulate our customer 0rCA®/Fishy Filaments on smashing yet another crowdfunding campaign 👊 With over £173k raised by 174 investors, 0rCA is on a mission to expand its sales team and launch a new powder product for industrial 3D printing. 👉 Did you know that by 2030 an estimated 200k tonnes of new nylon fishing nets will be made each year, with just 15-20% being recycled. The remainder are likely to be burned or buried, with some ending up back in the ocean  👉 According to the UN, this poor recycling rate is due to a lack of recycling infrastructure.  👉0rCA has created a recycling system that upgrades discarded nylon, significantly increasing its worth. Find out more about their mission in their crowdfunding pitch (which is now closed): https://lnkd.in/eA9cCr7A #RecyclingInfrastructure #WaterPollution #SeaPollution #Crowdfunding #CircularEconomy 

A sustainable Bristol restaurant now has a decor to match its Michelin-starred food, thanks to a £50,000 loan from the British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund (SWIF), delivered by SWIG Finance. Wilsons is run by husband-and-wife team Jan Ostle and Mary Wilson. Of the funding, Jan commented: “Our future plans are for Wilsons to be a stable place that provides great food, great wine, great service and great jobs, and to be part of the community. Our case manager Adele really wanted us to succeed and for the investment to work. To that end, she spent so much time going through our workings, it helped solidify why we were borrowing the money. As a business development exercise, that’s really healthy. Our economy needs people to support small-scale businesses.” Dave Tindall from the British Business Bank, said: “Wilsons is another example of the kind of business the South West Investment Fund was created to support - innovative, rooted in its community and with sustainability at its core. We’re proud to have backed Jan and Mary as they elevate their award-winning dining experience, grow their team, and expand their impact. Access to early-stage finance like this helps ensure that businesses across the South West can continue to thrive and realise their full potential.” Read the story here: https://lnkd.in/evpJSPFx #FarmToTable #Sustainable #SustainableFood #MichelinStar #MichelinStarredFood #Refurb #BusinessLoan #CDFI #SWIF #SouthWestInvestmentFund 

🌱 EXCITING NEWS! Last year, the South West Community Finance Partnership provided £30 million to individuals, households and small businesses throughout the region! All three organisations (SWIG Finance, Great Western Credit Union (GWCU) & Lendology CIC | B Corp) had a record-breaking 2024/25:  🏢SWIG Finance lent £14.8m to small businesses  🧍GWCU lent £11m to individuals  🏠Lendology lent £3.6m to households    John Peters, MD of SWIG Finance, said: "These figures highlight the tangible difference Community Finance organisations can make. We’re working to build resilience in our communities by ensuring that marginalised people and businesses have a fair opportunity to access the finance they need to thrive." Collectively, Great Western Credit Union, Lendology CIC, and SWIG Finance are the voice of the South West’s community lenders. Through accessible, affordable finance, they create meaningful change for households, small businesses, and the region’s economy. Find out more in this press release: https://lnkd.in/eUrg8tNG #CommunityFinance #CommunityFinancePartnership #PurposefulFinance #PurposeLed #SoicialImpact #ImpactLed Emma Lower James Berry Photo credit: Jon Craig