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British Business Bank announces South-East based Let’s Do Business Finance as accredited lender for Community ENABLE Funding

Press release 15 May 2025

  • Let’s Do Business Finance will be able to lend up to £6m to smaller businesses over the next two years 

The British Business Bank has announced Let’s Do Business Finance as an accredited delivery partner for Community ENABLE Funding (CEF) in the South East of England, as the programme launches across the UK. 

Let’s Do Business Finance is one of two lenders who have received accreditation so far, alongside First Enterprise in the Midlands. Supporting smaller businesses across the South East of England, Let’s Do Business Finance offers access to fair and affordable business finance, and works alongside other CDFIs in the UK to remove barriers to accessing finance experienced by many businesses.

From May 2025, Let’s Do Business Finance will be allocated up to £6m to provide capital for underserved smaller businesses across the South East of England, helping those who often struggle to secure funding from mainstream lenders. These will include businesses situated in disadvantaged areas, those with limited awareness of available finance options, and those who have been turned down by traditional funding sources such as high street banks.

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

The CEF programme is designed to increase the availability of funding to social impact sector lenders, and the smaller businesses they serve in local communities. All lending decisions are delegated to CEF-accredited delivery partners.

Let’s Do Business Finance will provide business loans under CEF, starting at above £25k. These are funded through several regional funds, for start-ups and smaller businesses that are unable to borrow from traditional high-street lenders. The not-for-profit institution reinvests any surplus into loan funds to further support economic growth and job creation in the local communities. 

The initiative 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 sector as a whole so that 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 South East.

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

We are delighted to announce Let’s Do Business Finance as one of the first accredited lenders for the Community ENABLE Funding programme, following its successful launch in November last year. The company has a strong record of supporting smaller businesses in the South East, particularly those that face challenges in accessing finance from mainstream lenders. They have shown a clear commitment and genuine passion for empowering these businesses and we are excited to see the meaningful impact they will deliver.

Sean Dennis, Managing Director, Let’s Do Business Finance, said: 

Becoming an accredited partner of the Community ENABLE Funding programme marks an important milestone as a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting small businesses with access to finance. This accreditation will enable us to extend our reach, providing vital funding to communities and individuals who often face barriers when seeking traditional finance options. The programme’s support will significantly enhance our ability to make a meaningful difference where it is needed most.

Theodora Hadjimichael, CEO, Responsible Finance said: 

We’re delighted that Let’s Do Business Finance and First Enterprise 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.

Let’s Do Business Finance provide business loans ranging from £500 - £150,000 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 £17.4bn1 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 Let’s Do Business Finance or its products or services.

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