L-R: Jon Preston, COO at ARMCo, Justine Chadwick, CWLEP Growth Hub, Craig Humphrey, Managing Director of the CWLEP Growth Hub and ARMCo Founder, Russell Martin
Access to funding and advisory services for start-ups and existing firms.
Access to funding and advice for start-ups and existing firms wanting to grow or diversify has been bolstered by a unique partnership between Business Solutions, the commercial service of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) Growth Hub, and next-generation property and finance services consultancy ARMCo.
Businesses, property investors, developers and entrepreneurs across all sectors will be able to gain support from this collaboration as the economy starts to bounce back from the pandemic.
Business Solutions – which has an extensive reach to regional businesses and owners through the FinditinCW opportunities portal – already provides support such as access to finance, skills and training, innovation and general business information to cover services that are outside those available for free from the CWLEP Growth Hub. ARMCo’s consultancy services provide a natural fit through its specialist finance streams, corporate support, property lending, land procurement and development, and insurance services.
Craig Humphrey, Managing Director of the CWLEP Growth Hub, said his team focused on supporting growth businesses from SMEs, owner managed businesses and large corporates through to property developers and investors.
He said: “This partnership will provide help to businesses for services that are currently not on the market and we think it will particularly appeal to owners wanting to expand or diversify. For example, if a loan isn’t available from a bank or a specialist finance provider, ARMCo sits in between these two options to provide help at a competitive rate if businesses don’t know where to turn to finance their growth plans. We believe this collaboration will further improve business support in the region for start-ups and established firms in a wide range of sectors.”
ARMCo Founder Russell Martin explains:“In a rapidly evolving business landscape, access to business finance and sector-based specialist support can be challenging, with many complexities – especially as we all learn how to operate in a ‘new normal’. The combination of the excellent services offered by Business Solutions and ARMCo’s expertise provides a unique and unrivalled support offering that could be a lifeline to businesses in the region, as CWLEP’s Growth Hub is the Midlands’ cluster lead.
We feel this will be a huge bonus to the regional business economy, and this kind of partnership concept could be rolled out across other Growth Hubs throughout the UK. We’d relish the opportunity to open a dialogue with Government on how we can help support other businesses,” he added.
Jon Preston, Chief Operating Officer of ARMCo, said: “We are delighted to be working with Craig and his team at the Growth Hub. Our experience and expertise in delivering bespoke solutions to help businesses maximise growth opportunities, through our relationship driven approach, and the passion and commitment of strong leaders, marries perfectly with the objectives of Business Solutions. We look forward to working in partnership to deliver a truly unique offering, with the overall objective being to help economies prosper and drive forward the growth agenda.”
ARMCo will further support the aims of Business Solutions by signing up to the charter of Employee Solutions – the sub-division that works with local universities to identify graduate opportunities. This will support ARMCo’s wider graduate opportunity objectives.
ARMCo launched earlier this year: the brainchild of Birmingham-based business founder and investor Russell Martin, it combines specialist lending, corporate support, land procurement and development, and insurance services – catering for a rapidly evolving business landscape – to benefit clients with truly holistic and tailored solutions.
ARMCo is based in the heart of Birmingham’s finance district, where its HQ is the base from which the firm delivers its local, regional and national offering. The ARMCo group comprises Finance 4 Business, Liquidity Club, Innovation 4 Business and Walker Doble – as well as new firms Atlas Land & Planning, Chordis Capital, Cape Insurance, Green Liquidity, Lighthouse and Debretts Private Finance. The group offers expertise on financial solutions including asset, bridging and development finance, tax solutions and MBOs – helping SMEs in a range of sectors, property developers (including allied trades and professionals) and investors.
