100 Stories of Growth - Insights from Entrepreneurs

At a time of great uncertainty, BGF’s strength comes from its diversity and its determination to enable growing businesses of all shapes and sizes to reach their potential, says BGF CEO Stephen Welton. They say change is the only constant and looking back at the last year or so, that has certainly been the case. While on one side, technological progress is transforming our lives, creating new industries and with them, a wealth of opportunities – on the other side, we are navigating increasingly uncertain waters. As we head towards Britain’s exit from the EU in 2019, an exact vision of the future is hard to imagine. We might naturally assume that such uncertainty would be bad for business. But as we’ve seen at BGF over the past 12 months, entrepreneurs and small business leaders across the country are not deterred by a lack of clarity. They are instead determined to make the most of the opportunities it might present. In 2018, BGF has on average made one investment per week, bringing our overall investment to more than £1.7bn across 250 companies. INSPIRING ENTREPRENEURS ARE DRIVING PROGRESS WORDS BY STEPHEN WELTON CEO, BGF 80 81 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP BFG Stephen Welton, Chief Executive Officer, BGF