13 January 2025: Patricia Hamzahee OBE, an advisor, investor, philanthropist and specialist in access to funding for diverse businesses and social enterprises, has joined the board of Responsible Finance as the organisation prepares to boost flows of finance to underserved firms and people.
Patricia has been praised throughout her career for her ability to make the complexities of finance accessible. She was awarded an OBE in the recent New Year Honours list for services to philanthropy, to the arts and to impact investment.
After a long career in banking and investor relations, she founded Integriti Capital to bridge the gap between social enterprise and private funders. She co-founded Black Funding Network, GIVEBlack and Extend Ventures to promote access to funding for the underrepresented. She is a Non-Executive Director of Social Enterprise UK and a member of the Investment Committee of Better Society Capital.
Responsible Finance represents the UK’s Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs), social purpose lenders which support viable businesses, social enterprises and households which can afford to repay a loan but struggle to access the finance they need from banks and other sources.
Last year CDFIs lent a total of £287m to customers who would otherwise have been excluded from affordable finance, a 14% increase on 2022, and the highest total lending in their 30 year history. Of this £287m, they lent:
• £66m to 85,208 households, helping them save £29m in interest they would have paid to a high-cost lender.
• £102m (a 26% increase on 2022) to 4,546 start-ups and established small businesses, creating 6,411 jobs and safeguarding 5,402 jobs. 99% of the small businesses they lent to had not been able to access finance from a bank or other lender; CDFIs’ hands-on approach allows them to effectively support diverse businesses, with a significant portion of their loans going to women-led (41%) and ethnic minority-led (24%) enterprises.
• £119m to 371 social enterprises, safeguarding and creating a further 322 jobs.
Patricia Hamzahee OBE said:
“I’m thrilled to be joining Responsible Finance’s board. It is an important voice for the CDFI sector. I know the powerful impact CDFIs have had from my time working in the United States and am excited as well as hopeful about the growth of the sector in the UK and the opportunities for building communities here. The recent support for CDFIs here from leading financial institutions is a seminal moment for the sector and everyone it seeks to support.’‘
Responsible Finance Chair, Peter Udale, welcomed Hamzahee’s appointment saying:
“Patricia brings a deep understanding of the importance and need for better access to finance, particularly among less advantaged groups, and considerable board level experience in impact lending, which will support the development of partnerships and further professionalism in the CDFI sector. We welcome her expertise, energy and ambition at a time of considerable growth for Responsible Finance and CDFIs as we address finance gaps so businesses, social enterprises and households can thrive.’’
The appointment follows the announcement of the British Business Bank’s Community ENABLE Funding initiative, which will support up to £150m of CDFI lending over the next two years and is designed to lever additional private capital to CDFIs, and a £4m capacity building initiative supported by JPMorganChase to strengthen CDFIs’ operations.
These new programmes are expected to significantly increase levels of CDFI lending in communities across the UK, stimulating economic growth, building opportunities and addressing underserved businesses. The programmes seek to grow CDFI lending to businesses from £102m to over £500m per year by 2029. CDFIs’ lending to social enterprises and households is also expected to rise as the social impact lenders (which work with other partners including Lloyds Bank, the Impact Investing Institute, Better Society Capital, NatWest Group, Stop Loan Sharks and Fair4All Finance) address expanding demand for fair, appropriate and affordable finance.