We have the Catalyst Fund, which is an investment fund that supports social entrepreneurs in Scotland with amounts from £50,000 upwards.

What’s really special about the Catalyst Fund is that it’s a revenue-based fund. It’s debt — a loan you have to pay back — but instead of fixed monthly repayments, like a mortgage, your repayments are based on the revenue you earn. This makes it a friendly, affordable loan in the early days, when revenue might be a bit up and down. You only ever pay a percentage of your revenue.

If you have a slow month, you pay back less, reducing the impact on your cash flow. If you have a really good month, you pay back more and finish your repayments more quickly. Once you’ve repaid, you can move on to other growth investment providers.

We also have a product called StepUp, which is your first step into social investment. This is an interest-free loan specifically designed to help grow your revenue — funding the things that really work in your business to help it grow.

The application process is quick: you tell us what you want to do, whether you’ve done it before, if it was a success, and how much you need. We turn it around quickly and get the money to you. You can apply for anything from £5,000 to £30,000, and you can apply again up to a lifetime limit of £50,000.

You can start small — borrowing £5,000 to prove to yourself that you can pay it back and that your business model works — then borrow a larger sum to keep growing. It’s a really exciting new product, and we’re delighted to launch it.