Five questions for… Kilian Pender, chief executive, Green Deal Finance Company
The Green Deal Finance Company provides loans to UK homeowners to allow them to invest in renewable energy or energy-efficient products for their homes.
We provide loans to UK homeowners to allow them to invest in renewable energy or energy-efficient products for their homes. We help homeowners to meet the costs of retrofitting their property through loans that are repaid through their energy bill each month.
What's been your greatest achievement so far?
The business was originally part of the government's Green Deal scheme, under which it was a not-for-profit company responsible for setting up, financing and administering Green Deal loans. It was acquired from the UK government and other stakeholders in January 2017 and is now a private company. So our greatest achievement has been re-starting the Green Deal. As of May, we are now financing loans to consumers again.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Getting the message out there to consumers that the Green Deal Finance Company is up and running again, and doing things differently is a challenge. We want to let consumers know that we focus on improving their experience of getting a Green Deal loan, and that we are only going to be partnering with installers who adhere to the highest standards.We want to raise our profile, and will be doing a rebrand of the business later this year.
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We are currently raising funds via the ethical peer-to-peer investment platform Abundance. We'll be using the money to invest in technology to improve our website and marketing capabilities, and improve the customer journey, as well as sign up more installers. We want people to be able to sign up for a loan more quickly and easily.
What advice would you give fellow entrepreneurs?
Many of the most successful start-up businesses tackle simple problems that affect us every day. If you can identify a common problem and offer a better solution than what is available, you can potentially create a successful business.
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