Community Investment Enterprise Facility

The challenge

Many small businesses across the UK are unable to access mainstream finance. While they can access finance from socially motivated lenders such as Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs), the CDFIs themselves face barriers to achieving long-term sustainability and securing significant capital at scale to meet the demand of small businesses.

Our approach

We established the Community Investment Enterprise Facility to provide CDFIs with the capital they need to meet demand, to help increase understanding of the financial and social impact of CDFI lending, and to attract other mission-driven investors to help achieve long-term stability

The facility

This Facility will provide capital for up to five Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) to help them lend to small businesses operating in disadvantaged areas.

Small businesses are essential in disadvantaged communities, providing both jobs and economic activity. As many are unable to access mainstream finance to grow their business, CDFIs lending plays an important role.

A long-term financial, social and economic evaluation of the facility will be carried out by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam.

In April 2020, the Community Enterprise Investment Facility was adapted as part of Big Society Capital’s response to the coronavirus pandemic to ensure it could access the Government-based Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, meaning CDFI’s could provide smaller, emergency loans on a no fee, no interest basis for 12 months for underserved businesses affected by covid-19.

• Fund size

  £60 million

• Big Society Capital commitment

  £30 million