The Black Country Chamber of Commerce speaks to the Senior Business Development Manager at BCRS Business Loans.
In the latest Ready for 2024 interview, Lynn Wyke, Senior Business Development Manager at BCRS Business Loans, says the business loan provider will be focusing on supporting more small and medium-sized businesses looking to grow and make a positive contribution to the economic wellbeing of the West Midlands.
As the region returns to work, the Black Country Chamber of Commerce is celebrating the companies looking forward to building success in 2024.
As part of Ready for 2024, we are profiling members who are ready to deliver on their exciting plans during the 12 months ahead on the Chamber website and social media channels to get their views on the opportunities ahead during the next year.
Headquartered in Wolverhampton, BCRS Business Loans specialises in providing funding to businesses that struggle to access finance from traditional lenders.
The responsible lender offers loans from £10,000 to £150,000 to growing small and medium-sized businesses in the West Midlands and surrounding areas.
What will your business be focusing upon in 2024?
We will continue to focus on providing funding support to eligible businesses across the West Midlands region that are looking to grow, create new employment opportunities and benefit the wider community. We believe that no viable business should go unsupported. Having been a funding provider to SMEs in the West Midlands since 2002, last year BCRS also expanded to deliver part of the British Business Bank’s new £130 million Investment Fund for Wales, so we will be looking to support more businesses there too.
What are your hopes for the Black Country economy and its businesses in 2024?
We are hoping to see local businesses wanting to grow and invest as we are keen to support them. In 2022-23 BCRS lent £6.5m to 72 businesses, which helped create 473 job roles and add £33.7m in value to the economy of the West Midlands and surrounding region. We would love to be able to help businesses achieve similar growth again or more in our current and next financial year.
Why will the Black Country be a great place to do business in the 12 months ahead?
The Black Country has a fantastic network of businesses ranging from small start-ups to large international brands. As an organisation that supports SMEs wanting to grow, we see lots of innovation and aspiration in the region, and I am sure that this will continue this year. The West Midlands has a great network of professionals too, who are always keen to show their support for each other. At BCRS we host regular networking events, which are well supported.
What will you use your Chamber membership for in the year ahead?
As an organisation that relies a lot on connections to raise awareness of the funding support we offer to businesses, networking opportunities have always been really beneficial to us. We hope to be able to use our Chamber membership to take advantage of more networking events this year.
What do you hope will happen for the UK economy as a whole?
Recent cost-of-living pressures, inflation and interest rates have made things difficult for a lot of businesses, so it would be great to see these things ease this year.
We would like to see more companies feeling optimistic about their futures and looking to invest and grow. What does your company do?
BCRS Business Loans provides loans from £10,000 to £150,000 to growing small and medium-sized businesses in the West Midlands and surrounding areas. Our loan funds have been especially designed to meet the needs of businesses who are unable to access finance from traditional sources, such as banks. We offer loans to businesses making a positive contribution to the social, environmental or economic wellbeing of the West Midlands
