Veteran entrepreneur hails P2P as modern funding solution
Entrepreneur Lara Morgan has claimed that she would have used peer-to-peer lending to start her business, if it had existed then.
In 1991, Morgan founded Pacific Direct – a manufacturer and supplier of branded toiletries and other room accessories to the luxury hotel and cruise markets. She sold the company for £20m in 2008 and is now involved with an array of businesses as well as motivational speaking.
Speaking at the P2P Investing Summit, a virtual event hosted by Peer2Peer Finance News and AngelNews, Morgan said business owners can now use P2P loans to access quicker funding, and to build good relationships with the platforms’ user base.
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“I was so frightened of networking and overconcerned and embarrassed when I was setting up a company, I would never have dreamt of using the word entrepreneur,” she said.
“The truth is you are just a beginner, to become an entrepreneur you need to have earned your stars and stripes and experienced some pain.”
“If I had the brains to use a network and if something had been online then that would have been a lovely way to get finance.
“I would have done due diligence on the platforms though. There is a funding risk in P2P lending that it is not to be seen as an investment.
“The good thing about P2P is you get the loan pretty quickly, within two weeks. And if you build relationships and a reputation, you can be part of a [funding community] that trusts you and gives you lower rates than banks.
“The difference between using P2P with no equity in play is you retain the most valuable cards in the pack, your shares.”
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