At Co-op and Community Finance, we provide sympathetic loan finance to help people take control of their economic lives and create social benefit. Many of our borrowers work with us time and again, and we’re pleased to be part of their extended teams. Today we speak to Alison Holland, Founder of Brightwayz, to discuss the three loans they’ve had from us, the fourth they are aiming for, and the support we’ve been able to broker for them through the Thrive Together Fund.
“Honestly, the support we’ve had from Co-op and Community Finance (CCF) over the years has been incredible. We’ve paid off three loans – for start up funding, working capital and business development) and in 2023 received Thrive Together funding – we’re looking at applying for another loan soon as we can see lots of ways that we can grow our business, both in terms of making us financially stronger and more resilient, but also in terms of increasing our social impact.
The Thrive funding, which is regrettably is no longer available, helped us grow so much so more quickly and achieve so many more things than we would have done without it. We’ve taken on one full time and one part time member of staff to support the general promotional products side of our business – Brand My Thingy, which is a growth area for us. An increasing number of corporates and other organisations are looking to ‘buy social’ and get the extra social impact from their normal marketing spend as all profits are ploughed back into our green travel initiatives. In fact Co-operative and Community Finance are one of our customers for branded pens!
We were originally called BrightKidz, and we’d been creating and selling promotional products specifically for active travel campaigns, things like printed reflectors, printed waistcoats for road safety events. A lot of our customers started asking us for promotional items like pencils, mugs or notebooks, which we were happy to provide. So although we started out doing like high vis things, we ended up with a lot of expertise in understanding what are really good promotional products, what their qualities are, what works, what doesn’t work, how to lay the print out effectively, how to make sure that the customers can make a really good choice in what they’re choosing. We got to a stage where we were selling things that aren’t necessarily bright and they’re not necessarily for kids, with 100% of the profits going into our active travel campaigns, resources and advocacy. That’s been really important for us over the last five or so years, because it’s made us much more resilient as a business.
For the first time, we’ve just crossed the half a million pound turnover mark. We really want to be growing at about 20% per year. When we got the Thrive combined grant and loan package, back in December 2023, we saw an immediate boost in sales. We know that lots of corporates are increasingly looking to buy social, so we’re hoping to be part of that shift.
The Thrive Funding also paid for solar panels and battery storage. We’re really trying to work towards net zero – we’ve got a Brightwayz to Net Zer0 Project, which has involved giving all the staff carbon literacy training, and implementing a whole load of measures to be more sustainable in our own work. Solar panels and electric vehicles are really important parts of that. We’re trying to do more with schools as well, supporting them with their green travel plans.
The next funding we’re hoping to go for is to support our local projects. We’ve recently won some lottery funding to deliver projects across our county, and getting out and about is a big challenge with all the cycle equipment that we’ve got. So we’re looking to source a second hand electric van for that.
As a growing business, cashflow for working capital is often a challenge and this is where a CCF loan can also help us grow. With the promotional products, we’re finding that there’s a delay between when we pay suppliers and when the customers pay us – sometimes by several months. So a cash injection for working capital will get us over the next developmental stage there.
The thing about working with CCF, is that they are so much more than a lender, more than a bank. We’ve always had a really good, friendly relationship and it’s always been very supportive. Now we’ve got Kevin, and he’s helping us with more than just the loan. He’s directed us and suggested, for example, we should apply for lottery funding, which we applied for and got. Working with CCF means working with experts who understand not for profit business, whatever form they are in, who also have a good understanding of the financials. We’ve had a very, very good, long term relationship with CCF. We always find that their advice really helps us, and the support they give is what helps us keep going with our business, whether we’re hitting hard times or good times. They’re there for us and that’s what makes them brilliant.”
