Pictured above: Alison Bradley, Director of Central Business Development Ltd

Entrepreneurs and small business owners across the West Midlands are being offered a lifeline, with the chance to receive free, expert advice on securing finance, following the launch of an innovative new scheme.

Central Business Development Ltd is to work closely with businesses and the finance community in the West Midlands, to help ensure that businesses secure the funding they need to develop and go forward.

Firms will be offered a free first advisory meeting, providing them with an impartial assessment of their finance requirements and will be given an indication of the range and type of finance that may be available to them. After this initial meeting, a transparent and guaranteed fee is agreed for all subsequent consultancy.

The scheme is being introduced at a time when support for new and small businesses is dwindling, following cuts that have seen the demise of Business Link and other support networks.

With extensive experience in this field, Central Business Development Ltd is the brainchild of Alison Bradley, the former boss of The Arrow Fund - a £2 million loan guarantee scheme backed by Advantage West Midlands and Birmingham City Council.

The Arrow Fund, which was partially funded by Lloyds TSB, was one of the first victims of the regional public sector spending cuts, forcing it to close last year. It offered loans of between £1,000 and £10,000 to help people expand their small business after being refused a loan from the banks.

Alison Bradley, Director of Central Business Development Ltd, said: "We acknowledge that finance can be difficult to arrange in the present climate - so business owners and new businesses will be calling on the services of finance specialists more than ever before."

"Our uniqueness is that we work with a vast range of lenders, banks included, but also utilise an array of private and public sector schemes to create a package of finance to make the deal work."

Alison added: "Within our first few weeks of trading, we have already been successful in securing a grant of £200,000 for a bakery in Staffordshire, which will create 20 jobs. This proves that even though finance may be more difficult to obtain, with the right people working on a proposal, a business need not struggle on without the money it needs to develop to its full potential."