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EVENT NEWS Breakfast Matters: May 2016
Better Together
Following a lively morning of networking, everyone took their seats in anticipation of the first presentation of the morning from May’s guest speaker, Daniel Owen-Parr of Together Money – the well-established, recently rebranded north west business, talking about ‘The Rise of Alternative Finance’. Without hesitating to jump straight in at the deep end, Daniel informed the audience that since 2008, banks have changed criteria, and now allow companies like Together to help businesses grow and flourish despite potentially being turned away by mainstream lenders. This has all been made possible via the route of alternative finance, an option providing many small and medium sized businesses with the opportunity to acquire funding in an effective and flexible manner – something small business owners in the room likely understand the importance of. A fairly new option to the market place is pension-led funding, which Daniel took a moment to explain to the evidently engaged audience, highlighting that funds in pensions that may have been accumulated throughout a person’s working life can be used to help fund their business. Together’s National Development Director also emphasised their focus on the auction market for residential properties, with their lending terms stretching from 1 to 24 months. Previously Bridging Finance, Together has grown dramatically in the past year, with their lending book sitting at an impressive £1.6bn in December 2015, and a staggering 126 new members of staff being employed. The big transition from solely Northwest, to nationwide lending was also recently made, highlighting the impressive growth of Together even just since their rebrand. A few jaws dropped in the room as Danny went into further detail about the clients Together have helped along the way, some in as little as just 7 days, and made thousands in profit from properties that were improved after auctions, which led to a number of hands being raised in the room to find out a little more from Daniel – a clear sign of an intrigued crowd. Continuing with May’s jam-packed breakfast matters, Sandy Mitchell took the floor to discuss the new LCCC charity event - CEO Sleep Out UK. As suggested in the name, the event will consist of getting local senior managers to raise awareness and funds for homeless people in Manchester by holding a ‘CEO sleepover’ where CEO’s will sleep on the pitch or in the stands of the Lancashire County Cricket Club. Teaming up with Mustard Tree, MASH, and Big Issue Northwest, the events have been a major success so far, with just 4 having raised over £750,000. In Manchester alone there are already 120 executives signed up to take part, with each of them looking to raise around £1000 each via Just Giving, emphasising the staggering amount that could potentially be raised in total. Sandy added that this will be a great opportunity to network, and quite literally ‘get into bed’ with fellow executives, followed by Paul
THE ALTRINCHAM & SALE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MAGAZINE
ISSUE 2