Ciaran Burke: Swooping in to help SMEs

SMEs are the engine room of Australia, we hear this time and time again. SMEs employ around 4.8 million Australians (44 per cent) and are a major GDP contributor (57 percent). Employment growth in small businesses accounted for approximately 60 per cent of total employment growth in the private sector between 2013-2018. The pandemic has had devastating impact on small businesses in Australia, especially in the State of Victoria. However, if and when we are looking at reopening the economy, Australia’s “economic engine room” will be a major contributor to bringing Australia out of economic recession.

One of the biggest struggles for any SME will be getting the right funding to keep their businesses running and expanding once the economy opens up as well as the Myriad of Government Grants that may be available to them that they may not be aware of. Whilst the new Budget reflects the need for SMEs to get firing again, owners of SMEs often do not know the "what" and the "how" to get about it outside of the traditional BIG4 Lenders. With an explosion of SME FInTech Lenders in the last 4 years, the options are mind blowing, but the question is... where to start?

Would it surprise you that the same problem will be faced by other countries as well? In this Podcast, Dien Le speaks to Ciaran Burke - Co Founder and COO of Swoop Funding. The Tech Start-Up based in the UK has found swift and massive success by connecting SMEs to suitable and viable Lending options in addition to any eligible Government Grants that may be available to a specific business. Customers have their own financial dashboard to keep up to date on their financial and liquidity metrics and Swoop then alerts them when they become eligible for new funds. This episode dives into the "how" and the "why" the platform came about. Including the amazing journey that Ciaran and his team took to get it to where it is today. A short stint in Australia earlier in his working life sparked an idea to bring Swoop to Australia as well. Have a listen... and definitely watch this space.