New Banjo BDM to explore unlocking SME growth

Banjo Loans has boosted its NSW broker channel team with new Business Development Manager Frances Rikard-Bell, who’ll hit the ground running with an upcoming webinar on what’s holding SMEs back from growth.

Rikard-Bell joins the fintech business lender’s existing NSW-based team of Andy Walker and David Thorn in supporting brokers and advisors to secure loans for their SME clients quickly and painlessly.

Rikard-Bell will shortly host a Banjo broker webinar revealing research data and trends that highlight barriers to growth faced by Australian SMEs, and how to overcome them. Among the webinar panellists are Rachel Hind of Best Capital Finance and Suzi Trajanovski of Loan Market. Rikard-Bell will also discuss with the panel the important attitudinal differences between female and male SME owners.

Previously a business relationship manager at NAB, Rikard-Bell went on to work in similar roles in London and Vancouver, where she specialised in SME lending for Canada Scotia Bank. An analyst role at CBA in Sydney followed, enabling her to round out her banking experience.

“I’ve always had a strong interest and affinity with the SME business lending market. What drives me is being able to work with brokers to help SMEs get the growth opportunities they need and deserve,“ Rikard-Bell said.

“From my past experience, I think SMEs are perhaps not properly understood by the major banks.”

“Banjo has always been highly tuned in to SMEs, and I’m excited to host this webinar that will share some deep insights from recent national research.”

Banjo’s Head of Sales Brendan Widdowson said, “Banjo continues to expand and build strong relationships in NSW, a key growth market and area of opportunity for us. Frances brings broad experience and a new perspective to our dedicated NSW team.”