On July 16th, 2019 nearly 60 World Traders and their guests gathered at the Caledonian Club for a Business Lunch with guest speaker Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO of British Business Investments and British Patient Capital. Both are part of the British Business Bank Group, which effectively serves as the UK development bank.
The UK in general and London in particular generate a lot of great ideas and inventions which lead to start-ups: in tech, in financial services, in commerce and business more broadly, and in the creative industries. We sometimes seem less adept at nurturing those into the fully-fledged businesses we need for the future. With more than 20 years’ experience in the private sector, as an active investor in small and medium sized businesses and venture and growth capital funds, Catherine was able to share her views on the UK as a source of capital for smaller high-growth companies generally, the specific role of Patient Capital as a provider of longer-term transformative investment (“patience pays!”), and how newer initiatives such as seeding new funds and focusing attention on regions outside of the Southeast are bearing fruit. Catherine’s remarks can be read here.
A lively Q&A session raised environmental, social and governance issues, the dynamics of life sciences and how diversity can improve outcomes in a field still very much dominated by men.
