 Hi everyone, I am joining you here from the iconic and beautiful and stunning and historic Guild in Derry, London Derry after the access to finance conference this morning So I was delighted to emcee this for the third year in the row with inter trade Ireland Invest Northern Ireland and the British Business Bank, and I wanted to share a couple of things with you Of course, I will share the key insights that came out of the day But I also would like to tell you about their format One of the things I really like about this conference is this At the end of the day, so today's conference started at 9 and it finished promptly at half 1 But at the end of it what they invited everybody to do was to fill out this card So you can see it here and on this card on the back of it is my action plan for funding growth My key takeaways my actions my introductions So you can see here the way that they give this to everybody and on the front of the card is a QR code And on that QR code There is a link then to the speaker bios to a gallery of resources to the feedback form to all sorts of things But what I really like is that they actually ask people to take the time to think about what they've got out of the event What they're going to do as a result of the event and who they want to meet after the event And the reason I really like that is a lot of us leave Conferences and we're full of excitement and we're going to do all sorts of things and we're inspired and we're going to go home Now we're going to think about a B and C we're going to take time out and think about it over coffee and all sorts And then you go back out and you see your emails and your slack messages and so on like that So I really like the way they do this But the other thing is that I had the opportunity as the emcee to walk around and to talk to every table as well Talk to everybody at every table and ask them well, what are your key takeaways? And what are you going to do and from there then I shared that summary back with everybody from the stage So then everybody else could see what the key takeaways were the reason I really like that as a format is because it Helps everybody to take the time to distill what they're going to do and what impact it's going to have and It also definitely helps with the networking It definitely helps with helping people really think about the impact of the event and also of course It gives feedback to everybody about everybody now throughout the day There was the folk first of all the folks was in debt was specifically alternative debt And then the second one was equity there was a case study in both cases I really like that as well they bring on people to talk about what it was like to walk the walk And then the other thing was that we had a panel discussion then with alternative debt providers Including a broker and everybody that has tagged up there in this post And then we also had another panel discussion about good governance neds as in non executive directors and networks so this gave the Building blocks of what leads to successful equity investment or at least what can partly set yourself up for that anyway Now the insights that I would like to share with you is number one is that it's important when engaging well in business I suppose in general, but particularly in in debt borrowing is to come up with your personal survival plan if The business venture doesn't work out and if you are in a state where you need to consider how you're going to handle your own stress Test it's just it's a very good thing to do. It gives you confidence. It gives the lender provider confidence, etc Second thing this came up again and again and again and again and again today is knowing your figures now Whilst it came up many times I sometimes wonder whether people know well what figures am I supposed to know so think about what are your profit margins per product? Per segment if your market is segmented and per target market look at it per year So knowing your profit margins and there's two in particular to know one is your gross profit And the second one is your net profit now certain or entities as well We'll look for your EBITDA and EBITDA is earnings before interest tax Depreciation and amortization and that isn't a figure that's directly on your account. It needs to be worked backwards Your accountant will help you find it no problem But that's often the language that they're talking about knowing your projections and also a range of other things that I'm going to mention here But just being comfortable with your numbers I'll tell you one thing that I do is that when I'm watching something like shark tank or dragons den is that I Listen to the questions being asked in the pitches and I answer them myself So I use that as a dress rehearsal for me to just critique how well I know the numbers in the business So that's free for any of you check it out the player now another thing is Know where you're going and bring people in to help you this came up a lot as well as the role of business mentors the role of Mentoring from the agencies from professional advisors from people who've done it before from your network is you don't have to go this journey on your own at all and Understanding where you want to go and looking at the journey in which you're taking it can help when you people on the from an external Uninvested perspective to help you make that just make a difference with that. Also, don't wait to look for money Don't wait until you need it to look for money Whether that's debt or equity starts that conversation much earlier than you need so that then you have the run-in and As in the runway in I should say and also you have the relationships built for then when you need to Activate them. It's very important to know your time particularly if you're looking at equity time is total addressable market And it's also even more important to know what realistically you can achieve within that or what you want to go after Now also, there was a conversation around the softer side of equity. You know what I mean by that is I asked the first person a question Ryan Williams, I asked him that question I asked Mary McKenna that question a few few people I asked today that question and that is What benefit is finance apart from money? And the answer of course is the network. It can be the when you have people who are investing in your business access to their network Their direct maybe access to labor markets access to customers and if you're engaging with a debt provider Their critique of your business can also help you refine and direct where you're going and all sorts of things like that but there is a soft side of Engaging with finance providers Relationships are everything and that's why events like today are so important is to enable people to get out and meet Meet people when it comes to bringing in a non-executive director Larissa Feeney had a super answer for this because a lot of people said like what were you looking for when you look for a Ned and she said I identify the skills gaps in the business and from there I then thought about what do what skills do I need to bring on the board and then she made her decisions from there But she didn't start off thinking well, what Ned could I get her who might be out there? It is she identified the skills gap first the a lot of people talked about back yourself and being confident Now that's easier said than done But what I will say is backing yourself comes from being clear about your own numbers your own narrative knowing the business You're as an entrepreneur or somebody directly involved in the business You're going to know it better than anybody else and just being sure of that I think confidence comes from a couple of different places like having been there already before knowing that whatever you've done before you Can do it again? It comes from having successful meetings with finance providers It comes from learning from these types of events It comes from sharing your experience with other people and them gaining insights from you All of that can help you build your confidence The point also was that the conference is called Access to Finance But what particularly was reinforced here is that number one there is money to be got Whether it's debt and equity and number two there are a range of options to get there The challenge is actually refining them down so you know exactly which ones you want to pursue And also what came up in the summary afterwards from people is that sense of not everybody has it figured out And you don't have to do it all in the one day but do work on it consistently over time Now in addition other points that came up here is that your network can be very helpful in helping you to sift around to where to start And some people spoke about the power of a network is when it comes to who could I talk to about this particular initiative Like an innovation voucher or any of the supports that Interstate Ireland invests in our British Business Bank offer But also the benefit of a broker is that sometimes it can be better to go to a broker Particularly for the larger amounts of money or where you need to arrange a combination of finances Going to a broker who can then do the research on your behalf and bring you back an array of options and help you choose In addition as well there was a conversation today had that Access to Finance shouldn't just be about the business owner Or the the the CFO or the financial director in a business But also those conversations are often had then back with the professional services like the accountant and their solicitors And that is because people trust them of course and just having the same Continuity of that conversation around I'm thinking of raising money What do you think what do you think of going down the route of alternative finance instead of traditional finance? But it was also raised that of course professional services people need to keep up to date with What those options are and to be aware of their own biases among them also There was a big focus naturally enough as you can imagine on mentoring reaching out for that objective voice And there's a lot of mentoring available by the business agencies and by the councils and and of course you can always go privately as well and some people spoke about the role of a Ned could really have professionalized the business and Of course a lot of people can be working on the business and in the business at the same time And a Ned can can bring some clarity to that Some people also spoke about it's important that funders know the impact of the money So that they can really go the distance with the business and understand what to do and also loads of people today commented on the female representation that was on the Panels on the fact that Awaken Angels is now up and running But all saw that the people from White Rock and from Clarendon Brilliant women who were able to bring a lot of insights to the conversation We had lots of people who brought a variety of perspectives to it And I have to say again too I want to say a massive thank you to Susan McCain from British Business Bank To Patrick Dure from Invest and I and also to Shane O'Hanlon at Intertrade Ireland for giving me the opportunity to be here. You're just brilliant people and thank you so much indeed