Case Studies

Palm Cove SocietyJanuary 06 2010

Palm Cove Society is a social enterprise which provides temporary supported housing for refugees and vulnerable individuals, it was established in August 2007. They started with one house with space for three women and currently have over 50 rooms. Although they started by providing accommodation and support for only women and children, they now also support single men and unaccompanied refugee children.

The business was started by Yvonne Hall and Gerard Stocks who spent a year researching their idea and formulated a new model for providing support of this kind. Their idea of providing accommodation in shared houses was considered as unworkable by many in the sector who believed that is was not possible to house people from different religions and countries together. Palm Cove Society have proved this to be wrong and by providing accommodation in one area with a central office they have successfully created a strong community among their clients and a system that allows a high level of support to be provided.

They are unique in this sector providing primary care, guidance and support on lifestyle and health related issues to all its clients in addition to providing accommodation. Palm Cove promotes lifelong learning through collaborative involvement with local training and development facilities. Their clients are encouraged to engage in training and employment and Palm Cove has close relationships with the Light of the World which provides English language training.

The company strives to provide added value services to their customers and it provides meeting rooms to Social Services and Housing Benefits allowing them to meet with a number of their clients in one place; saving them time and money. From July 2008 the Refugee Education and Training Service has been based from Palm Cove’s offices on one morning a week allowing them to work with Bradford clients more effectively.

"The Business Enterprise Fund team are approachable, knowledgeable and innovative professionals who proved to be the catalyst that turned our vision of Palm Cove Society into a reality. They helped us create a strong foundation ensuring future sustainability through their excellent business management and dynamic mentoring facilities." Yvonne Hall - Director Palm Cove Society

Stained Glass WindowsJanuary 06 2010

Stained Glass Vision
With many years of buying and selling antique glass Paul Arron decided he would use his acquired skills in glass to start providing stained glass products. Because he had been a nomad for a number of years travelling around, the banks were unable to provide a loan. Paul approached BEF and asked if they would consider providing a small loan for him to rent some premises and buy some stock.
Bef looked his plan and some of the work he had done and decided that they would provide a small loan for working capital. Paul took the loan and has now developed a thriving business providing stain glass windows and other related products for domestic and commercial use.

Anzeck BiodegradeableMarch 26 2009

They have been trading in the BRADFORD area for over twenty years, and have won a number of awards for their excellent service and the products. Bio Degradable/Anzeck Plastics, who are a UK manufacturer of green packaging solutions to a wide range of industries, suddenly found that their otherwise excellent relationship with the bank had become strained. Some long established clients were beginning to take longer to pay their bills. They had to bulk buy plastic at more expensive prices because the increase in oil was seeing a huge impact on their raw materials costs. All these factors meant that their overdraft facility was now absolutely essential to the business as a life line.
However, the credit crunch hit home when their bank of 15 years decided that they would reduce the overdraft facility and start to charge punitive rates for anything that exceeded the reduced overdraft. Overnight they had £30k sliced from the overdraft and the company was being charged 29% for those amounts that exceeded the now reduced limit on the facility. The bank, despite the new Enterprise Finance Guarantee being available would not consider converting the overdraft into a loan. The company had no debts other than the overdraft and owned buildings valued in excess of £1 million. The owners did not know what to do.
Anzeck Bio degradable approached the Business Enterprise Fund to help in trying to source further finance and in addition consolidate their debt finance. We set about establishing their financial position and as part of an intensive programme of change management, BEF set about restructuring the business as well as their debt; spending many hours putting in place cost reduction programs as well as streamlining their operations.
BEF provided them with a loan of £50k to service the orders that needed to be processed, keeping them under the barrier at which their bank charged these punitive rates. BEF then arranged for their forecasts to be presented a number of other banks all of which offered a facility vastly more appropriate than their current provider.
Although still struggling to find the main stream finance despite, the many Government initiatives available, Bio Degradable /Anzeck are confident of weathering the storm, with orders now being steady.

Fancy a TippleNovember 03 2008

Many people dream of having their own Brewery especially students who seem to spend a lot of time in there during their student years. This was definitely the case with Michael and Sam. They developed a passion for real ale and dreamt of being able to set up their own brewery.

In 2007 Sam and Michael took the plunge and decided to set up their first pub. A micro brewery in the heart of the up and coming Holbeck village area of Leeds. The midnight Bell.

Within a very short space of time it became clear that the demand for their products was there and they needed to expand. With help and advice from the directors of York Brewery they located a new spot near to Leeds station.

Regrettably their ambitions to grow were perfectly timed with the credit crunch and as a consequence their friendly neighbourhood bank was no longer able to provide the support they needed.

Having being recommended to them by their bank they approached BEF for further funding. Having reviewed their management accounts and drafted a new version of their business plan the credit committee decided that this was a great opportunity to support and new and growing venture. The loan of £60k was to help finish the development of the next site.

Having received the funding they are now looking to open the pub opposite Leeds station on the 9th of November. The brewery of the lager will be on site and people will be able to see the beer brewed even as they drink it.

Producer of novelty clocks improves their competitivenessFebruary 27 2008

Rig Out produces, wholesales and retails novelty clocks. Originally started as a hobby in 1999 by Matthew and Paula Firth the company has been run on a full time basis since 2004. The company has developed a strong customer base mainly to the gift trade and a reputation for original and funky designs.

In order to move the business forward they needed to expand their manufacturing capacity and decided to move some of this overseas. The Business Enterprise assisted Rig Out with the necessary funding to enable them to this. This move has enabled them to be more competitive and has had a very positive effect on sales. Rig Out are currently talking to potential new customers from around the world.

In addition to supplying the trade, Rig Out also have website which sells direct to consumers.

http://www.rigout.net

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