Vehicle lighting designer and manufacturer Bee Lighting is now on track to grow its business after receiving £150,000 in funding from the Community Investment Enterprise Fund (CIEF) through BCRS.
Bee Lighting, based in Redditch, Worcestershire, specialises in high-quality lighting design and manufacturing for high-end vehicles and collaborates with renowned brands such as McLaren, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Lotus and Ford.
Last year the company’s founders, Paul Crees and Colin Fulford, who established Bee Lighting in 2006, embraced an opportunity to return to running the business after time away.
In a bid to grow the company they managed to secure CIEF funding from Wolverhampton’s BCRS Business Loans to help with working capital, which is supporting day-to-day operations and enabling the company to increase sales and production.
Bee Lighting operations director Colin Fulford said: “Despite having a solid business plan, we struggled to access funds, but BCRS saw our strategy and got behind it.
“The funding is really helping us to get the business growing again. It has helped us secure at least 20 jobs and has put us in a really good position to win new business.
“Since receiving the support from BCRS we have increased our orders, and the business is going from strength to strength. We are now confident that we will be able to keep expanding.
“We have recruited three new people within the last three months and plan to create more new jobs within the next year too.“It was simple to apply for the funding. Our business development manager at BCRS was very responsive and easy to deal with. I was surprised at how straightforward the process was.”
BCRS Business Loans senior business development manager Angie Preece said: “Bee Lighting is an innovative business that delivers challenging lighting projects for some of the world’s leading brands.
“The company has great potential and I am pleased that BCRS has been able to provide the support that the team needs to grow sales and capitalise on future opportunities.
”Funded by Lloyds, along with social impact investor Better Society Capital (BSC) and contributions from community development finance institutions BCRS Business Loans, Business Enterprise Fund and Finance for Enterprise, the £62m CIEF offers funds to businesses unable to access finance from traditional sources.
BCRS Business Loans is supporting the CIEF delivery in the West Midlands and Wales by providing secure loans between £25,000 and £250,000 to enable growth and recovery plans.
The launch of the CIEF, managed by responsible finance provider Social Investment Scotland (SIS), comes after BCRS Business Loans was appointed as one of the fund managers for the small loans element of the new £130m Investment Fund for Wales and for the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, which will deliver a £400m commitment of new funding for businesses across the Midlands. Bee Lighting was able to access the CIEF funding following a referral from Lloyds Bank.
Lloyds Banking Group Midlands Ambassador Andrew Asaam said: “We are delighted to see Bee Lighting benefitting from our recent investment in the Community Investment Enterprise Fund. Lloyds Banking Group is committed to helping business owners access funding, creating jobs and opportunities across the West Midlands.”
Since BCRS Business Loans was founded in 2002, it has provided loans worth more than £95m to businesses.
During the 2024-25 financial year, it achieved one of its best years ever for delivering funds, providing £9,900,502 to 124 businesses – a 68 per cent increase in the number of SMEs supported compared to the previous year.
In the last financial year, lending through BCRS Business Loans resulted in the safeguarding of 889 jobs and creation of 317 roles while adding £51.2m to the economy of the West Midlands, surrounding region and Wales. Of the funding, 34.6 per cent went to the UK’s most disadvantaged areas.