The Northern Ireland Small Business Loan Fund has celebrated a major milestone this week as it passed £4m in total funding delivered to 148 local businesses, including most recently Irvinestown-based Quintess Denta.
The Northern Ireland Small Business Loan Fund has been running since 2018, offering loans of up to £15,000 to start-ups and up to £100,000 to established small businesses. The fund is managed by Ulster Community Finance Ltd (UCF) on behalf of Invest Northern Ireland and in partnership with Enterprise Northern Ireland.
This week the fund reached a significant milestone as it broke through the £4m funding barrier. The company that put it over the line is local dental distribution firm Quintess Denta, which is based in Irvinestown and employs 12 staff. The firm also has a sister company named Quoris 3D that focuses on digital technology.
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Quintess Denta is one of many small businesses in Northern Ireland seeking finances right now to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. CEO James Hamill commented: "The pandemic created an immediate risk to the future of Quintess Denta and Quoris 3D. The £70,000 funding from the NISBLF allowed us to bridge a gap when cashflow was non-existent and combined with the income from the sale of PPE, enabled us to create a buffer and reinvest in the company.”
Community Finance Ireland’s Chief Executive, Dónal Traynor commented on the funding milestone: "Four million pounds is a huge milestone in the story of the Fund. The past year has been incredibly challenging for small and medium businesses and we’ve been really impressed with how they’ve adjusted their ways of working and identified opportunities to diversify. We are keen to speak to organisations who are interested in exploring how financial support of up to £100,000 could further their business ambitions."
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Invest NI's Director of Corporate Finance William McCulla said: "The Fund has been instrumental in supporting small businesses who have demonstrated their resilience and creativity throughout this difficult period. This is just one example of how the Fund has helped companies here to pursue projects which otherwise would not have happened."
Source: Written based on press release
