💼 A Level results, Lionesses, and addressing the regional imbalances for Northern entrepreneurs

If you own a small business in the North of England and you're either starting up or trying to grow to the next level, the chances are you'll be after some financial backing to make that happen. But for many firms, access to finance can be hard to come by - and that's where the British Business Bank and its chief executive Louis Taylor comes in. The agency, founded in 2014 and with its headquarters in Sheffield, underpins debt and equity provision to small and medium-sized companies and aims to make the business finance market fairer, more efficient and more diverse.  It's also recently launched a new £200m investment fund in the South West and Louis, who grew up in the North East tells Rob Parsons about his commitment to helping unlock the potential that exists in our region, address regional imbalances and make sure finance markets work better for entrepreneurs, no matter where they are in the country. And Rob also chats about the big stories of the week - including A-Levels and the glorious Lionesses - with Ruth Hannan, director of the People's Powerhouse movement. *** The Northern Agenda is a Laudable production for Reach. It is presented by Rob Parsons, and produced by Daniel J. McLaughlin. You can subscribe to the daily Northern Agenda newsletter here: http://www.thenorthernagenda.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices