5 minutes with: Stephen Welton

Tell us a little about British Business Bank and its goals

British Business Bank began with then Business Secretary Vince Cable more than a decade ago. He had a real sense the UK needed an economic development bank, and its theme remains the same today: how do we get more capital into regions, while recognising there are very different companies?

When it comes to policies, one size doesn’t fit all, so the bank has a range of interventions.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II), which provides loans and debt finance from £25,000 to £2 million, and equity investment up to £5 million, is one of those interventions.

It has already supported several North East companies, including Seaham-based solar film maker Power Roll, Sunderland battery recycling firm Lithium Salvage and Stockton’s Southern Asset Management.

Equally, one of the most palpable interventions, in terms of human stories, is the bank’s start-up loan programme. Funded by Government and administered directly by British Business Bank, it gives people, at 18 and 19, the ability to start a business, which is incredibly powerful.

However, you can only be a catalyst if there is somebody to catalyse, and we do that through our finance partners, which are our boots on the ground across the regions.

You have a deep connection with British Business Bank, having previously advised the Government on its creation. But what was your career path before you assumed the role of chair?

I worked at Barclays Private Equity in the 1990s, which gave me a chance to see what was going on in the regional economy.

The most powerful way to support the regional economy is to be there.

If you sit in a London ivory tower thinking about the economy, you’re going to get a very academic view.

Being on the ground is absolutely fundamental, and was a significant factor when, in 2011, I set up the Business Growth Fund. That now has a strong regional presence, with offices across the UK and Ireland.

Many entrepreneurs remain frustrated by a complex funding landscape they say makes accessing support challenging. How can British Business Bank – and the broader funding ecosystem – help change that?

Making it really simple for a company to find access to finance is a perennial chestnut. When you make things easier, you are fundamentally addressing time, which is the biggest and scarcest resource of all.

There are hundreds of thousands of companies, and not all of them are going to find it easy to raise funding. Part of that is because they’re not sure of what type of funding is relevant to them.

And I think there is an opportunity with artificial intelligence to better connect people to funders.

This, in turn, would help strengthen the message; if businesses can see companies like themselves raising investment, they will want to find out how they did so. And if you get more businesses taking the right type of finance, the impact on local economies is dramatic.

Despite female founders making increasing gains in the business landscape, they remain hamstrung by a sizeable gender investment gap, with male counterparts continuing to attract more equity. How is British Business Bank working to narrow that divide?

We are very committed to supporting female entrepreneurs – and that is more than a soundbite.

We previously committed £50 million to the Investing in Women Taskforce – the £250 million initiative committed to increasing finance for female entrepreneurs – and recently announced a pledge of up to £30 million in THENA Capital’s UK MedTech Fund, which will back early-stage medical technology start-ups.

And it is something I’m personally committed to supporting, having recently given evidence to a Women and Equalities Committee focused on female entrepreneurship.

As a bank, we’d like to see new and different funds being created in the North East, and funds created by women, because female investors are a very powerful way to create more female entrepreneurs.

The Chancellor has consistently emphasised economic growth as Labour’s top priority during its time in office. How can British Business Bank contribute to achieving that goal?

In order for the economy to grow, we need more investment, and for more investment, we need more people to take risk.

The remit of the bank is to support small businesses, and the more we understand where the opportunities are, the more we can design our aim and activities around it. NPIF II is a great example of driving investment, and we’re looking at the Government’s industrial strategy and opportunities around that in the North East.

We share the Government’s focus on growth.

But growth shouldn’t be an elite sport, nor should we define success by the next unicorn company.

It is about the hundreds of thousands of small companies that will be the UK’s engine for growth, and about helping people grow their businesses and fulfil their dreams because that is what motivates others.