Barclays launches free online community for small businesses

Barclays has released a free online service, designed to create a network for small businesses looking to gain new customers and seek advice.

Available to both Barclays customers and non-customers, the Barclays Connector allows users to list their company for free and post specific projects and services that they require, as well as enabling them to respond to and bid for work with other users.

After giving users the option of signing in through LinkedIn, the platform uses matching technology to organise businesses according to their expertise.

It is hoped that alongside helping users to find new customers, suppliers and services, the platform will help entrepreneurs to support each other with the Q&A feature, which allows users to rate responses according to helpfulness.

In addition to advice from other users the platform, which has collaborated with partners including UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) offers advice guides on a range of business issues, including finance, planning and branding.

Richard Exton, managing director of transactional business commercial and proposition at Barclays told Startups: “We designed Connector with the aim of combining two key things that small business owners need: suppliers and services to grow their business and help and support from other entrepreneurs.

“Through the free online community, we hope to equip small business owners with the tools they need to grow, whether that’s through enabling them to directly bid for business, or by providing them with answers to their business queries.”