The Department for Business and Trade has today [4 October 2023]
announced the appointment of Stephen Welton as the new
non-executive chair of the British Business Bank.
Stephen Welton takes over from , who has held the
position for six years since 2017. In 2013, Stephen was appointed
as an advisor to the UK Government regarding the establishment of
the British Business Bank and, in 2017, served as a member of the
Industry Panel advising HM Treasury on the Patient Capital
Review. He was also a member of the Prime Minister’s 2021
Business Council.
Stephen Welton has extensive experience as an investor in private
capital markets around the world. He was the founder CEO of
the Business Growth Fund (BGF) from 2011 to 2020, then Executive
Chair between 2020 and 2022, and later Non-executive Chair until
January 2023.
Small Business Minister said:
I am delighted to welcome Stephen to his new role. With his
wealth of experience in investment and passion for driving
entrepreneurship, I know he’ll deliver leadership at the British
Business Bank on their mission to boost and scale up the UK’s
SMEs.
Stephen Welton CBE, Chair of the British Business Bank
said:
I have dedicated much of my career to investing in growing
companies and backing entrepreneurs and innovators. I believe
passionately that finance is a vital ingredient in helping
smaller businesses start up, grow and achieve their ambitions,
and to maintaining their enormous contribution to the UK economy
nationwide.
That is why I am delighted to take up my position at the British
Business Bank as Chair. This is a pivotal time for the economy as
we look to drive innovation and growth, while substantially
increasing the level of long term investment in the UK. I look
forward to working with the team at the Bank as well with as
colleagues in Government and the private sector.
The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic
development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to
drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK and to
enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access
to finance for smaller businesses. Its remit is to design,
deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to
finance programmes for the UK government.
The British Business Bank’s core programmes support over £12.4bn
of finance to more than 90,000 small businesses.
