Simon Purdon from FundingHub says that they help small businesses in South Africa to grow through affordable finance. They do this by helping them find the best finance solution for their business.
He explains that it is a free-to-use platform with over 40 different business lenders contracted. One application with them unlocks multiple quotes, different types of funding products, and gives you the best chance of finding the right finance for your business.
FundingHub was founded to help small business owners get access to finance when traditional banks won’t help them.
According to Simon, there was traditionally a large funding gap between Personal Loans and Bank Loans. Alternative finance providers stepped into that gap to offer solutions, but those solutions are often complicated, and the options can be overwhelming. FundingHub simplifies the process by facilitating the transaction for the business owner, for free.
What Simon loves most about running his business is seeing the resilience and resourcefulness of South African business owners. As a marketplace, they see hundreds of applications through their platform a week. Each of those business owners has their own story and challenges.
He says that it’s inspiring to hear the journey’s of different business owners and how they fight tooth and nail to keep their businesses running and growing. He finds that it reignites that feeling of passion for our country and the people in it.
One of the biggest lessons Simon has learnt on his business journey is that the only way to really provide service to your customers is to listen to them, and fully understand their problems. He believes it important to be willing to throw out all your assumptions about who your customer is and what their needs and wants are.
He says that in order to have a sustainable business, you need to consistently drive value for your customers. Simon finds that staying in touch with them makes sure you’re always delivering value when and how they need it.
When Simon was asked what his “why?” is, he said that at FundingHub they are passionate about small business in Africa. They really believe that SME’s are the lifeblood of these economies and that real change will be driven by small companies that are able to grow. He says that it has been proven that small businesses that grow faster are able to hire more people and that these hires also tend to be skewed to youth and female employment.
Simon explains how any business facing cash shortfalls because of payment terms from big corporates and larger customers knows that one of the keys to unlocking growth is accessing that trapped cash. He believes that to be done through access to affordable finance.
This is their mission at FundingHub. They want to make finance available to every deserving business – formal or informal – so that they can grow and contribute to Africa competing on the global scale.
Simon says, “Small businesses are the perfect vehicle through which a country like ours can step out of the shadow if its past. A thriving business uplifts the family that runs it; it supports the workers that it employs, and it drives growth, education, and innovation in communities.”
He describes small businesses as being poverty alleviation flywheels that have positive ripple effects right through the communities that they are a part of. He believes above all that small businesses unlock opportunities for all of those involved in them. They give hope, and they give purpose.
FundingHub is a proud Premier Member of the NSBC.
If you would like more information about becoming an NSBC Member visit www.nsbc.africa.