Growing your business

Early years education more often than not doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Not from policymakers, not from lenders, and not from the media. And yet the numbers speak for themselves: fewer than one in three local authorities in the UK currently have enough childcare places for children under two, and the DfE estimates the sector needs around 70,000 new places just to meet current demand.

Last June, at SuperReturn International, the industry’s annual gathering for private equity and credit, the mood around private credit was bullish. Nearly every panel highlighted the relative strength and opportunity in private credit – a golden era, driven by high base rates, public market retreat, and strong LP appetite for yield. 

Today, the tone has shifted sharply. JPMorgan has been marking down the value of software loans sitting in the financing portfolios of private credit clients.

From our conversations with SMEs and mid-sized businesses across the UK, one thing is clear: traditional business banking still creates too much friction. Too many silos? Too many processes. Too much time spent managing money rather than using it to grow the business.

Surplus cash shouldn’t sit idle. Learn how OakNorth’s business notice accounts help UK SMEs earn more on reserves – with variable, tiered returns and full control over access. Built to align with your real-world cashflow, not get in the way of growth.

The economy’s shifting: costs are on the rise, margins are tighter, and regulation’s increasing. For growing businesses, that means bigger hurdles and tougher decisions. So where do entrepreneurs find confidence when making those business-critical decisions? It’s not just their optimism or a go-getter attitude. The most successful leaders surround themselves with the right partners, those […]

For ambitious SMEs, the biggest marketing challenge isn’t choosing between brand or performance, it’s finding the balance. Focus too much on short-term performance and your brand risks becoming forgettable. Invest only in brand, and growth can stall before momentum builds. That balance was the focus of our recent breakfast panel on Brand vs Performance: how […]