| Specialist NetworksAlternative Funding Network |
From Bank Finance to Peer to Peer loans – a study in Alternative Funding
Debbie Leon, Managing Director, Fashionizer
- We were delighted to get the chance to interview Debbie Leon, Founder and Managing Director of Fashionizer. This was part of the Business Insight Programme we run with Workspace (Fashionizer are a customer)
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Aneesh Varma , CEO & Co-Founder, FabriQate
- FabriQate is a business that focuses on the the customer experience that surrounds retail interaction. The company's involvement in China is thoroughly analysed.
Debbie Leon, Managing Director, Fashionizer
- We were delighted to get the chance to interview Debbie Leon, Founder and Managing Director of Fashionizer. This was part of the Business Insight Programme we run with Workspace (Fashionizer are a customer)
Emily Bendell, CEO, Bluebella
- We were delighted to get the chance to interview Emily Bendell, Founder and CEO of Bluebella. This was part of the Business Insight Programme we run with Workspace (Bluebella are a customer)
Michael Laven, CEO, Currency Cloud
- Currendy Cloud, a technology platform that allows businesses to make international payments, analyses its low cost, transparent and highly automated process.
Simon Wax, Partner, Buzzacott
- Simon is a partner in the Corporate and Business Services team at Buzzacott. He specialises in providing financial advice and services to international and UK companies, predominately in the technology and media sector.
Fashionizer Written NotesWe were delighted to get the chance to interview Debbie Leon, Founder and Managing Director of Fashionizer. This was part of the Business Insight Programme we run with Workspace (Fashionizer are a customer). We covered a number of issues with Debbie while visiting her showroom and offices in Chiswick. One topic related to how Fashionizer had found funding. To put matters in context, some background to the business. Fashionizer is a long established, creating “designer uniforms” that are sold internationally. Debbie, who has been in the business many years, is someone who (in my view!) ticks just about every box in terms of being a really good entrepreneur – successful, passionate, trustworthy and clearly a good boss. The business has been expanding internationally, and has also moved into bigger, better premises. It is a European focused company, sourcing and manufacturing the UK and Europe. It’s the epitome of the type of small business that UK plc wants to see grow. International expansion required funding, but Debbie simply got nowhere in terms of attracting the required bank finance……this, despite lots of encouraging meetings, complex paperwork, and no little time on the part of management. Exasperated, Debbie, at the behest of a business contact, attended an event on crowdfunding. Excited by the possibilities, this led to Fashionizer making a loan application with Funding Circle, an application that was turned around within two weeks. In 2013 Fashionizer received the funds needed for expansion, supplied by some 500 individuals who have invested in the company’s future. This interview is fascinating – Debbie gives her personal views on why banks cannot deliver at present, despite good relationships. It’s a good case study in why Knowledge Peers’ research is showing so much momentum in the growth of P2P lending. Chris Dines |
