By Jamie Veitch
5
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The podcast currently has 33 episodes available.
Why did NatWest Group choose to work with community development finance institutions (CDFIs) as part of its cost-of-living support package?
What can be done to signpost CDFIs to bank customers who are financially vulnerable?
How do bank to CDFI referral processes work for businesses and social enterprises?
And why are CDFIs such a "terrific part of the overall ecosystem of financial services" whose ability is both celebrated and championed by NatWest Group?
Brian Holland heads up NatWest Group's approach to vulnerable customers and leads on consumer duty and remediation. He is joined by Stuart Foster who looks after financial institutions across NatWest, and served on the Better Society Capital board for over six years.
NatWest Group has supported and worked with Community Development Finance Institutions for over three decades; it was a founding funder and partner to Responsible Finance, formerly the Community Development Finance Association.
We learn more about the nature of this work and long-term support, and discuss the impact of the 2023 NatWest Group and Responsible Finance Hardship Grant programme.
Brian and Stuart also discuss:
This episode was recorded in May 2024, shortly before NatWest Group hosted the launch of Responsible Finance's new Impact Report at an event addressed by CDFI customers and Bim Afolami, Economic Secretary to the Treasury.
The event was attended by social investors and banks, business and social enterprise representative organisations, financial inclusion campaigners, and politicians across parties.
Read the new impact report: https://responsiblefinance.org.uk/policy-research/impactreport/
Katalin Juhasz and Ollie Pollard join us today to show how impact alignment between investors and social enterprises makes a difference to communities and businesses – plus what traditional city institutions can learn from social investors.
Ollie is Head of Enterprise Growth Funds at Resonance, founded in 2002 with the mission to connect capital to social enterprise. It had around £350m under management (and a team of 60) when we recorded this podcast.
Katalin is Head of Future Business and Impact at Raised In, a social enterprise nursery based in Bristol.
I noticed that before joining Resonance, Ollie had worked in the City of London for a decade and then on a Sri Lankan tea plantation for 18 months. So we picked his brains about how that experience changed his perspective – and what city investors can learn from social investors.
We also discuss how the push towards impact investing has affected Resonance, the effect of accolades such as winning Property Investment Company of the year, and a new Resonance Enterprise Investment Fund.
This new fund will provide patient, flexible, risk bearing and accessible investment finance to growth-stage social enterprises. Ollie tells us more.
Then we hear from Katalin and if your assumptions about how a social enterprise nursery operates were similar to mine then you must listen to this. She describes how Raised In generates social impact and community benefit – and how its model means it can attract and retain talented staff.
Raised In has previously secured two investments to grow, from Resonance. Katalin tells us what it needed the finance for (it created LOTS of new jobs, and has enabled 100 families to access nurseries they would not have been able to) and why it worked with Resonance. We hear about pre- and post-investment support and the "local multiplier effect" – Raised In helped sustain many local businesses because of its investment.
Katalin Juhasz and Ollie Pollard join us today to show how impact alignment between investors and social enterprises makes a difference to communities and businesses – plus what traditional city institutions can learn from social investors.
Ollie is Head of Enterprise Growth Funds at Resonance, founded in 2002 with the mission to connect capital to social enterprise. It had around £350m under management (and a team of 60) when we recorded this podcast.
Katalin is Head of Future Business and Impact at Raised In, a social enterprise nursery based in Bristol.
I noticed that before joining Resonance, Ollie had worked in the City of London for a decade and then on a Sri Lankan tea plantation for 18 months. So we picked his brains about how that experience changed his perspective – and what city investors can learn from social investors.
We also discuss how the push towards impact investing has affected Resonance, the effect of accolades such as winning Property Investment Company of the year, and a new Resonance Enterprise Investment Fund.
This new fund will provide patient, flexible, risk bearing and accessible investment finance to growth-stage social enterprises. Ollie tells us more.
Then we hear from Katalin and if your assumptions about how a social enterprise nursery operates were similar to mine then you must listen to this. She describes how Raised In generates social impact and community benefit – and how its model means it can attract and retain talented staff.
Raised In has previously secured two investments to grow, from Resonance. Katalin tells us what it needed the finance for (it created LOTS of new jobs, and has enabled 100 families to access nurseries they would not have been able to) and why it worked with Resonance. We hear about pre- and post-investment support and the "local multiplier effect" – Raised In helped sustain many local businesses because of its investment.
Katalin Juhasz and Ollie Pollard join us today to show how impact alignment between investors and social enterprises makes a difference to communities and businesses – plus what traditional city institutions can learn from social investors.
Ollie is Head of Enterprise Growth Funds at Resonance, founded in 2002 with the mission to connect capital to social enterprise. It had around £350m under management (and a team of 60) when we recorded this podcast.
Katalin is Head of Future Business and Impact at Raised In, a social enterprise nursery based in Bristol.
I noticed that before joining Resonance, Ollie had worked in the City of London for a decade and then on a Sri Lankan tea plantation for 18 months. So we picked his brains about how that experience changed his perspective – and what city investors can learn from social investors.
We also discuss how the push towards impact investing has affected Resonance, the effect of accolades such as winning Property Investment Company of the year, and a new Resonance Enterprise Investment Fund.
This new fund will provide patient, flexible, risk bearing and accessible investment finance to growth-stage social enterprises. Ollie tells us more.
Then we hear from Katalin and if your assumptions about how a social enterprise nursery operates were similar to mine then you must listen to this. She describes how Raised In generates social impact and community benefit – and how its model means it can attract and retain talented staff.
Raised In has previously secured two investments to grow, from Resonance. Katalin tells us what it needed the finance for (it created LOTS of new jobs, and has enabled 100 families to access nurseries they would not have been able to) and why it worked with Resonance.
We hear what pre- and post-investment support means in practice and the "local multiplier effect" – Raised In helped sustain many local businesses because of its investment.
What next?
Low emissions zones became a political battleground just after recording this interview with Kate Barnard, founder and CEO of Enjoy The Air.
But what does the public think? Can we prove the impact of "hard or soft" interventions on air quality? And just how far are people prepared to go when it comes to action in response to poor air quality?
"I was astounded" says Kate as she reveals the results of research showing just how many people will – if they have the means to – vote with their feet and move out of places with poor air. Which cities are most at risk? Kate explains.
Despite a legal requirement on local authorities to document and provide evidence of their air quality it is surprising how many don't, Kate says. Though some are exemplary: she tells us which, why, and what we can learn.
Kate spent two decades in a corporate career with Rolls Royce before launching her business, an "evidence based air quality intelligence company," which is now nearly three years old.
This is a return visit to the Responsible Finance podcast for Kate and covers a huge amount of new ground. She discusses corporate and startup culture and what funders, financial backers and corporates can do better to support the UK's startup ecosystem.
Plus plenty on the staggering results of public polling about air quality and how to communicate the reasons (and the "what's in it for me?") for Low Emissions Zones (anyone involved in policy research should listen to this).
Kate also covers the development of Enjoy the Air's HALO air quality certification (funded by SWIG Finance and the British Business Bank), and how we can improve air quality for the most vulnerable.
What next?
A community banking agreement brokered by a disadvantaged community with a mainstream bank two decades ago offers valuable insights to address financial exclusion today.
Niall Alexander, a "community worker by trade" says the "groundswell" in addressing unfairness and financial exclusion is now reaching a peak. People "aren't asking for gold plated taps" – they need very small sums of money, but could turn to illegal lenders if fair and affordable credit isn't available legally.
Niall, now Markets and Consumer Insights Manager with Fair4All Finance, covers a lot of ground in this episode and doesn't mince his words.
A couple of decades ago he worked in Wester Hailes, a peripheral housing estate in Edinburgh. With some "amazing community activists" they set up a community banking agreement with the Bank of Scotland.
Many people work really hard to run really good businesses with wafer thin margins in community finance. And there are good people in mainstream finance who want to find common ground – despite different cultures – and Niall is confident in the potential for a "slow then sudden" change.
What next?
Caz and Darron Burness already had a thriving business – doggy day care, pet-sitting, home boarding and other services – when they spotted an opportunity to purchase a kennels premises. It was the perfect fit.
But how to finance the acquisition? A £100,000 loan from BCRS Business Loans unlocked their ambition and growth plans, safeguarded several jobs and has enabled them to create new jobs too.
Beacon Barkers is a licensed kennels with onsite groomers and shop. Caz and Darron also offer dogwalking and pet transport and have embarked on an exciting programme to develop the kennels, launch additional services, provide volunteering and training opportunities and create more jobs.
Caz spent 23 years at TK Maxx, the fashion retailer. "I had many different jobs but always had a passion to be outside." She describes how she made the leap from employee to entrepreneur, why she and Darron approached BCRS Business Loans, their exciting plans to develop and expand the business expansion and what they have learned about buying and growing a business.
"There are good finance companies and there are not so good finance companies," says Caz. "Don't think the only people who can lend you money are a bank. Please shop around." She also explains how BCRS' support beyond the money has helped Beacon Barkers to thrive.
What next?
Impact investing has moved into the mainstream. Many asset owners and managers are trying to deliver more positive social and environmental impact as well as a financial return. Yet just a few years ago many institutions were dismissive or sceptical. How did this change?
"It's not about telling people what they should do, it's demonstrating what can be done and the power of the possible," says Sarah Gordon, the founding chief executive of the Impact Investing Institute which she ran from 2019 until recently.
The Institute has found personal engagement alongside practical tools and case studies particularly effective. How else has it moved impact investing into the mainstream, and how has it performed against its four key objectives?
Why must we accelerate our ambitions and how can we do so? Is fiduciary duty a barrier or obstacle to impact investing? How can we scale up place-based investing – and why are community voices as crucial as social and environmental benefit?
What has the Institute learned from from community development finance institutions and what can they learn from the Institute's experience?
This comprehensive conversation with Sarah Gordon also covers financing the just transition to Net Zero, practical steps individuals can take, the vital role of the media, and Sarah's next two projects, which will be located within the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, a research institute at the London School of Economics.
This is a packed episode with much to reflect on, learn from and put in to practice.
What next?
Ready for some big numbers? How about £165 million? Just one of the staggering figures revealed in Salad Money's first ever impact report.
Salad CEO Tim Rooney tells us how the social enterprise, which lends to NHS and Public Sector workers, has helped applicants identify £165m in benefits they could apply for but were not claiming.
Its customers "spend to and not beyond their means," he says, "but when they are faced with a financial hurdle, they typically will turn to credit and that's when we are there." It has saved them at least £5.2m in interest, according to its new report.
He covers multiple parts of Salad Money's social impact. 4 in 10 borrowers have had a county court judgment (CCJ) in the past, but these are "not necessarily a barrier" because of the firm's 'More Than Your Score' ethos – "we've never used credit bureaux (credit reference agencies) to make decisions about affordable and appropriate lending."
So how does it do it? Tim explains how Open Banking powers its affordability assessments and can unlock multiple other benefits for applicants – he's excited about the potential to help more people get broadband and utilities social tariffs they are eligible for.
The report includes calls for action which would build financial inclusion and help the millions of people excluded from credit. Tim gives details.
Salad has developed its own machine learning tools to analyse the four to six thousand data points it gets per applicant. Tim describes how these help it understand the inflationary and other pressures consumers are under. "We're attuned to using the data to help us make decisions. It's not a machine making a decision, it's a machine helping our team to make the best decisions for borrowers."
The report has multiple other metrics and maps Salad's impact against an ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) framework and specific UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as gender equality too.
Impact Investors, Tim says, are now waking up to the social impact that Salad and other CDFIs (community development finance institutions) and social purpose finance providers unlock.
What next?
This is both an extraordinary and, sadly, an every day tale. All over the UK people with children or caring responsibilities compete for shifts or work patterns which fit around them, face the 'poverty premium' or are locked out from opportunities.
"I was dismissed on so many levels," says Jules Hawkins. "I knew I was capable of more and I knew I wanted to be a taxpayer."
Jules' "whole world crumbled" when a new owner of a business she'd long worked for refused to allow her to work flexibly around childcare.
Everything escalated out of control: she had to move to lower-paid work, lost her home, her credit score was destroyed and Jules was hit by "everyone charging me more for everything."
There are so many ironies in Jules' story and this interview illustrates how housing and childcare policies let many people down. But ultimately Jules approached Purple Shoots at a point where she was hugely vulnerable and describes how "they quite literally saved my life."
Jules runs her own businesses now, including the pregnancy bed cushion she designed herself and a business network for single mums. She's repaid her Purple Shoots loan and even pledges a percentage of her sales to support the organisation to help others.
She has lots to say in this interview about childcare, minimum income floors, entrepreneurship, marketing and business development. And she spills the beans on what she said to Rishi Sunak this summer.
What next?
Stephen Tighe and Sheryl Doe founded Allegro Opticians to address specific issues which the eyesight of musicians and performing artists.
The business now has customers from all over the world, has won multiple business awards, has a trusted high street presence with three branches, and has grown from two to more than twenty employees.
Stephen describes his career background in the armed forces and financial services, how he and Sheryl met because of their passion for music, the problems which affect musicians' eyesight, building an ethical supply chain, and why they approached Responsible Finance member, Business Enterprise Fund (a not for profit social enterprise) for finance to grow the business.
It's a thoughtful interview about finding a niche, outperforming cheaper 'chain' competitors, the value of exemplary customer service, how to get the right finance, and why it's important to give back. A masterclass in business development.
What next?
Air pollution contributes to around 40,000 deaths a year in the UK and more in many other parts of the world. Enjoy The Air helps cities achieve air quality standards through policy, infrastucture and behaviour change.
CEO and founder Kate Barnard, an engineer, describes why she launched the business and how viewing cities as engineering systems means it can help local authorities and other organisations develop appropriate "clear air" strategies with measurable results.
Enjoy The Air secured support from Responsible Finance provider, SWIG Finance, so it could create a robust and internationally recognised certification for cities which meet WHO (World Health Organisation) air standards.
Kate explains how Enjoy The Air catalyses behaviour and policy changes, why she approached SWIG Finance and the impact of doing so, who the business is already working with and the importance of "WIIFM" or "What's in it for me?"
What next?
The podcast currently has 33 episodes available.