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British Business Bank announces Midlands-based First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans as accredited lender for Community ENABLE Funding

Press release 15 May 2025

  •  First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans will provide up to £13m of lending to Midlands-based smaller businesses.

The British Business Bank has announced Enterprise Loans East Midlands, trading as First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans, as an accredited delivery partner for Community ENABLE Funding in the Midlands, as the programme launches across the UK. 

First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans is one of two lenders who have been accredited so far, alongside Let’s Do Business in the South East of England.

From May 2025, First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans will be allocated up to £13m under the programme to provide loans above £25k, unlocking capital for underserved smaller businesses across the Midlands. Specifically, these will include those located in disadvantaged areas, who have less awareness of the finance options available to them or those declined by traditional finance routes, like high street banks.

In addition, the programme will seek to target several underrepresented groups, such as female and ethnic-minority led businesses, increasing the diversity of businesses in those areas and improving the small business ecosystem for their customers.

The programme is also designed to increase the availability of funding to social impact sector lenders, and the smaller businesses they serve in local communities. The programme is aimed primarily at Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and will provide a significant boost to the sector, supporting up to £150m of lending over the next two years.

CDFIs are small, regional, social impact sector lenders that provide debt finance and support to underserved smaller businesses that can find it difficult to access finance from mainstream lenders. One of the key objectives of the programme is to help develop the whole sector, so many more such businesses can access the finance they need.

CDFIs have strong, local knowledge of the smaller businesses they support and the communities they reside in. As such, they are well placed to provide the right finance which can unlock the potential in these communities. Through this knowledge, local CDFIs will help to remove barriers to accessing finance experienced by many businesses, in this case here in the Midlands.

All lending decisions are delegated to Community ENABLE Funding-accredited delivery partners.

Reinald de Monchy, Co-Chief Banking Officer, Products, British Business Bank said:

After the successful launch of the Community ENABLE Funding programme in November 2024, we are delighted that First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans will be one of its first accredited lenders. They have demonstrated a clear passion for supporting smaller businesses in the Midlands and we are excited to see the impact they will deliver for the business community they support.

Daniel Carrico, Executive Director, First Enterprise, said:

As a not-for-profit organisation that is focused on helping small businesses gain access to finance, being accredited as part of the Community ENABLE Funding programme is a fantastic step forward in our business goals. Our focus on lending into hard-to-reach communities and to people who might struggle to access traditional finance options will be greatly helped by the new funding available through the programme.

Theodora Hadjimichael, CEO, Responsible Finance said:

We’re delighted that First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans and Let’s Do Business Finance have become the first accredited lenders for the Community ENABLE Funding programme. We are excited to see the impact they will generate for their small businesses and hope to see more community lenders across the whole UK join them in the coming months.

Further Information

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Notes to editors

The British Business Bank’s Community ENABLE Funding programme will be rolled out in two phases. In this first phase, the Department for Business and Trade will provide 100% of the programme’s funding via the British Business Bank, which will enable CDFIs to make more finance available to smaller businesses.

In the second phase, the British Business Bank will source additional funding from private sector investors, leveraging the government-backed funding to increase the amount of wholesale finance available under the programme.

First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans provide business loans ranging from £500 - £250,000 outside of the Community ENABLE Funding programme.

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank’s core programmes support over £17.4bn  1  of finance to almost 64,000  2  smaller businesses.

As well as increasing the supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of finance options available to smaller businesses. The British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to businesses about finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success.

The British Business Bank is also responsible for administering the government’s three Coronavirus loan schemes and its Future Fund, together responsible for delivering £80.4bn in finance to 1.67m businesses. These schemes are now closed to new applications.

British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales, registration number 08616013, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. It is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. With the exception of BBB Investment Services Limited they are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority. BBB Investment Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at British Business Bank.

The accreditation described above does not constitute or imply any endorsement, warranty or recommendation by the UK government, the British Business Bank plc, its subsidiaries or any other party of First Enterprise or its products or services.

About First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans

First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans provides business loans ranging from £500 - £250,000, which are funded through several regional funds, for start-ups and SMEs that are unable to borrow from traditional high-street lenders.

The not-for-profit organisation reinvests any surplus into loan funds to further support economic growth and job creation in the local communities.

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