Championing diversity: Your partner in inclusive business growth

For too many ambitious business owners across the UK, mainstream finance routes remain firmly out of reach – blocked not by the quality of their ideas, demand for their products or the strength of their business, but by systematic barriers that have long excluded underrepresented communities from the financial mainstream.

At Let’s Do Business Finance, we’re proud to be leading the charge for inclusive finance – by combining accredited funding programmes, responsible lending practices and wide-reaching business support to ensure that every business owner has the opportunity to access the capital they need to grow.

The first UK lender accredited for the Community ENABLE Fund

We were the first lender in the UK to be accredited for the Community ENABLE Fund by the British Business Bank – a landmark programme specifically designed to broaden access to finance for underrepresented groups in business ownership, with the ability to bolster the ability of lenders like us to lend to them.

The Community ENABLE Fund was created with a clear and urgent mission: to ensure that ethnic minorities and female entrepreneurs – groups that have traditionally been underserved by traditional lenders – have a genuine, supported route to the capital they need to grow. By becoming the first accredited lender of the programme, Let’s Do Business Finance showed our capability and our commitment supporting business owners.

Our accreditation was more than a badge of recognition – it represents our ability to deploy funding specifically structured to serving entrepreneurs who might otherwise have found the doors to mainstream finance and growth closed to them. For business owners from ethnic minority backgrounds, for women building enterprises in sectors where they have historically been overlooked, and for founders held back by simply being located in the ‘wrong place’, the Community ENABLE Fund offers a vital lifeline – and Let’s Do Business Finance and our fellow CDFIs in the Responsible Finance sector are at the forefront of it.

Responsible Lending – Finance with a purpose beyond profit

Our Community ENABLE Fund accreditation sits alongside our role as a Responsible Lender – a role that reflects and sums up our holistic approach to supporting businesses, not simply processing applications.

Responsible lending means we take the time to understand each business and the person behind it – looking beyond credit scores to understand the how, the why, and the potential and ambition. It means we work with businesses who have faced setbacks, are in their early stages of growth, or operative in communities where economic disadvantage is a real challenge.

This approach is essential when working with diverse entrepreneurs who may bring non-traditional financial histories or who are building businesses in environments where access to professional networks, mentoring, seed funding and grants has been limited. Let’s Do Business Finance prides itself on meeting those business owners where they are – and helping them to get to where they want to go.

Part of Let’s Do Business Group: more than just finance

What really sets us apart is that we are not a standalone lender – we’re part of the wider Let’s Do Business Group, a well established business support organisation with deep roots in delivering business support on behalf of local authorities, regional bodies and public sector partners across the UK to drive economic growth in communities across the South and East of England.

This means that when a business comes to us for funding, they’re accessing more than a loan – they’re being connected with a variety of business growth support, including expert advisors, mentoring, skills development, networking opportunities, and practical guidance on how to start, sustain and scale their businesses. For many diverse and traditionally underserved businesses, these ‘wraparound’ services are what makes a difference between a business that survives and one that truly thrives.

Let’s Do Business Group’s experience and relationships with local authorities and regional stakeholders also mean that we understand the landscape that our clients operate in. We understand the barriers that can hold back entrepreneurs in their growth – from limited access to support and networking, to the effects of deprivation in the communities where many of our clients have been based. And because we work closely with the organisations and local authorities that are also working to drive economic development, we’re uniquely positioned to connect businesses with the right support, and the right time.

Filling the gap mainstream finance leaves behind

The truth is that the UK’s mainstream financial sector still has a long way to go when it comes to equitable lending. Research has consistently shown that entrepreneurs from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to be declined for business finance, more likely to be offered less favourable terms, and more likely to self-exclude from applying being of that anticipated rejection. Female founders also face similar systemic challenges – with a significant funding gap remaining between what women-led businesses and their male counterparts receive. 

We exist to address this gap. Where mainstream lenders might see risk, we see potential. Where others might see boxes unticked or applications that don’t hit the threshold, we see an entrepreneur that deserves a fair hearing. Our combination of specialist funding programmes, responsible lending and business support available through the Let’s Do Business Group means we’re ready and determined to say yes when it matters most.

Your partner in inclusive growth

Diversity isn’t a problem to be solved – it is a strength to be supported. The UK’s most innovative, resilient and community focused businesses are often those built by the people who have had to work hardest just to get a foot in the door. Let’s Do Business Finance is committed to opening that door even wider – showing that support is out there.

Whether you’re a broker that works with businesses that might  be struggling to access finance, or you’re an entrepreneur that might have been turned away from mainstream funding routes yourself, Let’s Do Business Finance is your partner in growth – all that’s left to do is start the conversation by getting in touch.