A YORKSHIRE investment company has secured a further £6m funding to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the region.

Hundreds of businesses across North and West Yorkshire will have greater access to finance after the Business Enterprise Fund received £6m investment from the Regional Growth Fund to expand its work offering loans to SMEs unable to secure bank finance.

BEF, which has offices in Leeds and Bradford, has lent millions of pounds across the region since its formation eight years ago, providing a crucial lifeline to a host of different business.

The £6m funding boost completes a strong start to 2013 for BEF, which has opened a second office in Leeds, expanded its team by 35% to 15 staff and opened its £2m “City Hub” incubator office space in Little Germany, Bradford. The team was also part of a small consortium of lenders that came fourth in the UK for delivering new Start Up Loans for Young People.

BEF director Stephen Waud, said the latest funding announcement for BEF, which has seen 75% growth in the last 12 months and plans to double its growth in 2014, proves that businesses can flourish across the region.

“This is the first stage in our plans to treble the size of our business over the next three years,” he said. “BEF has been instrumental in submitting a further bid to the Business Bank for a national £120m wholesale fund as demand for our assistance – and support from other similar organisations – continues to soar, despite bank SME lending remaining low.

“While the need for finance continues to grow, the gap between lending and demand remains huge with a recent survey showing that in the Yorkshire and Humber region, this is as much as £120m a year.

“Our aim is to lend to and support 200 businesses this year and we are determined to grow ourselves to meet the latent demand.”

Mr Waud said: “There are businesses out there which can really succeed, but just need a helping hand to either get them off the ground or push them to the next level. While it may contradict some of the doom and gloom mongers out there, we strongly believe business in North and West Yorkshire is making positive strides and we will continue to support them in the best way we can.”