by Desmond High, director of EMC Management Consultancies, Maidstone

Last month I suggested that the hurdles to bank borrowing are significantly higher than they have been and it is well documented that banks are not lending as much as they say they would like.

The main reasons seem to be a residual lack of trust (I've spoken to many business people who are determined not to be borrowers again after bad experiences), the wider margins that SMEs in particular are being asked to pay and general nervousness about a big investment commitment.

In the 2011 budget, the Chancellor quietly increased the incentives for individuals ('business angels') to make investments in small private companies.

The Enterprise Investment Scheme has been around in different forms and under different labels since the early 1980s.

In short, this provides assorted tax reliefs for minority shareholdings in private companies - a cocktail of tax-free capital gains and income tax deductions in the year of investment. With the budget changes, if the investment fails a 50 per cent taxpayer would be able to claim tax reliefs amounting to a 65 per cent safety net.

In the UK, there is an assumption that banks are the prime source of risk capital to early stage businesses. In the SME world the banks have never done risk and will always want security.

At the same time we haven't really developed a business angel culture and business people who have made money tend to pile it into property rather than into other ventures.

And anyone who has ever been involved in business angel investing knows that it isn't without its challenges.

That said, Kent has many high net worth individuals. Wouldn't it be good to see an increasing proportion of that wealth being used to help fuel growth in small businesses?

My organisation is a member of the Kent Corporate Finance Alliance, a who's who of our major law, accounting and corporate finance firms. The client base covers a great many of those high net worth individuals.

So if you are an ambitious business and in need of cash to fund genuine growth, talk to the professionals in the county, tell them that you want business angel capital and challenge them to use their network of clients and contacts to help you find it!