Home > Project News & Descriptions > West Yorkshire > Partnership Investment Fund > Volunteering Fair Bradford

Volunteering Fair Bradford

£5,000 Microloan supports volunteers recruitment business

Partnership Investment Finance (PIF) - a £37m investment fund aimed at supporting growing businesses in the region - has completed its first social enterprise loan with support for a new business that organises recruitment fairs for the voluntary sector.

PIF has made a £5,000 Microloan to Volunteering Fair, a Bradford-based company founded by former Voluntary Services Overseas employee Chris Walker to stage recruitment events for voluntary organisations in major cities around the UK. The loan provides him with working capital to finance deposits for venues along with support for marketing and promotion.

Mr Walker, 48, a part-time supply teacher in Bradford, has already staged two events and has realised the potential for expanding the business with plans for recruitment fairs in Manchester and London. He is also seeking suitable venues in other cities including Leeds, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Cardiff.

Mr Walker worked as a VSO volunteer teacher in Zimbabwe during the 1980s and was later employed by VSO as a UK-based organiser.  He launched Volunteer Fair last September and currently operates from his home in Great Horton, Bradford.

He said: “My business is filling a gap left when VSO stopped organising such events which are needed by the voluntary sector to find and encourage volunteers. Even if participating organisations recruit only a couple of people at each event they regard it as useful and worthwhile. I was introduced to PIF through my accountant who is also acting as my business mentor through a scheme operated by PIF.”

Dr Jon Harris, Chief Executive of Partnership Investment Fund Limited, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve made our first Microloan to a social enterprise. These loans provide seed corn finance to fledgling companies and can make a real difference to new and small businesses in the Objective 2 areas such as Bradford.”

PIF aims to encourage entrepreneurs and economic regeneration by providing equity investments and loans over the next four years to eligible businesses and social enterprises in the region’s Objective 2 areas which include parts of West and North Yorkshire, the Humber, North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire.

PIF is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund programmes. PIF’s resources are a mixture of private and public finance from key partners including the European Union; the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward; Barclays PLC and YFM Group. PIF investments and loans are made via four sub-funds: a micro loan fund; a small business loan fund; a mezzanine fund and an equity fund.

Alex McWhirter, Head of Enterprise for Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency which is supporting the fund, said: “Social enterprises provide a significant contribution to the economy in Yorkshire and Humber.   Consequently, when PIF was being formed, support for social enterprises was a key feature in its design.   This business is an excellent example of finding a gap in the market and working to fill it in true entrepreneurial style. It is fantastic news that PIF has provided the vital support to Volunteering Fair, and it demonstrates their commitment to this sector. ”