Growth Street appoints Jennifer McGuffie as BDM for Scotland
Growth Street, the peer-to-peer marketplace that connects UK businesses with investors, has announced the appointment of Jennifer McGuffie as business development manager for Scotland, further expanding the northern sales team, headed up by Michael Ellis.
Jennifer brings more than 15 years’ experience in service to British SMEs to Growth Street, having previously worked in a variety of roles for Lloyds TSB’s Commercial Banking division, Bibby Financial Services and, most recently, Ultimate Finance.
Based in Glasgow, Jennifer’s role is to originate and structure funding facilities for growing and ambitious SMEs across Scotland, through an extensive network consisting of entrepreneurs, business owners, intermediaries, advisors and many others specialising in the SME and Mid-Corporate markets.
Jennifer McGuffie, business development manager (Scotland), Growth Street, says:
“The success of high-growth Scottish businesses in recent years has been well documented. One only has to look at the rising profiles of BrewDog, Skyscanner and FreeAgent to see how much potential there is for entrepreneurs in Scotland.
“Having worked in the commercial finance industry for 15 years, I am excited to be joining a great team and a great business that’s genuinely doing things differently to help Britain’s SMEs.”
Michael Ellis, head of sales (North), Growth Street, says:
“We are delighted Jennifer is joining the team to enhance our offering to Scottish businesses.
“Scotland has been a hotbed of SME success in recent years and, in my view, it all comes down to the support business owners are given. There are currently around 340,000 SMEs operating in Scotland, providing 1.2 million jobs. These businesses account for 99.3% of private sector companies. The statistics paint a picture of just how important smaller businesses are to Scotland’s – and the UK’s – economy.
“But these businesses have a lot on their plate when it comes to funding. Over the ten years since the financial crisis, the big banks have steadily withdrawn access to the most flexible business finance product: the traditional overdraft. Growth Street research suggests that total overdraft lending is down by as much as £18bn compared to 2008.”