Bernard Ginns: Businesses not just looking at banks in hunt for finance

But nearly four years on from the start of the credit crunch, conditions are still tough for small and medium-sized businesses.

The complaint that "banks say they are lending, but in reality they are not" is still depressingly common.

There are encouraging signs, though, that owner managers are prepared to search for alternative sources of finance.

They have been through the painful cost-cutting, they are more efficient than before the recession and they are now in the mood for some expansion.

This appetite was evident last Friday when more than 200 people turned up at the Financing Growth 2011 event.

Exhibitors, including specialists in commercial loans, enterprise funds, private equity and angel finance, spoke to owner managers about different ways to fund their business plans in between speeches from both entrepreneurs and lenders.

These speeches provided real-life insights into how to succeed in getting the finance needed to realise growth potential.

Graham Bowland, the energetic chief executive of Surgical Innovations, the Leeds-based manufacturing business, told the audience how he raised millions of pounds in funding from City investors through a compelling mix of passion, detail and the ability to sell a story.

In the late 1990s, this was a business losing millions of pounds. Today it is a profitable enterprise with more than 100 employees and a market capitalisation of 23m.

Darren Shaw, a business consultant who has worked with 15 SMEs over the last five years, quoted a report from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales saying that small businesses are moving into aggressive mode. But to succeed in raising finance, they must get their positioning right, make sure they have a good team of people and be able to punch above their weight, he said.

The event also featured a frank account of what lenders are looking for, courtesy of Mark Whitaker, a former commercial banker with more than 30 years of experience.

He said lenders focus on the borrower, the purpose, the amount, the serviceability and the security.

He added that clients can help bankers help them by presenting strong cases.

The fact that more than 200 people attended this event shows the demand for expert knowledge and insight into finance and its various forms.

It is true that many businesses have now moved on from cutting costs. They are getting serious about expanding and building new revenues, which bodes well for 2011 and, perhaps, job creation.

Taken together, individual examples of small companies achieving growth potential combines to something much greater than the sum of the parts and lifts Yorkshire as a whole.

TALKING of general well-being, some much-needed investment in Leeds train station would do wonders in promoting the city as the premier destination for business in the North of England.

Late last year, I wrote a column bemoaning the failure of Network Rail and Northern Rail to improve the passenger experience at the station.

A contact recently said the dull, grey interior of the station resembled something from the Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic.

The inactivity of the railway companies is made worse by the 1bn worth of ongoing retail and leisure investment in the city, recently hailed in a report as having high potential to create jobs this year.

I'm not the only one who believes that investment in the station is long overdue.

Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds City Council, told me: "The way that we dress the station, the way that we light it, the sort of messaging we give when people come in to the city is vitally important and something that Network Rail and Northern Rail could do something about quite quickly so we are very keen to meet them to talk about that."

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, added: "Gateways to any city or county leave a lasting first impression on people arriving, positive and negative.

"In the 21st century, Leeds deserves to have a station it can be truly proud of."