The boss of a Norwich-based finance company is searching for an 'investor with a conscience' to help bolster its lending to small Norfolk businesses.

EDP Future 50 company Credo wants a backer to plough £1m into the capital finance side of the business to provide a cash pot that can be leant to SME's struggling to get finance.

And Simon Gray, managing director of the firm, has already got four companies that he is eager to help.

In return, he is offering a would-be investor a board member position, 5pc interest on an investment, and a 10-20pc share in the company.

It comes after he invested £200,000 into the business, which employs seven people, and raided his own pension pot to set up Credo Capital Finance – an offshoot of his eight-year-old business Credo Asset Finance.

This year, the asset finance side of the business turned over £750,000, while the capital finance arm recorded a revenue of £120,000.

'If someone was willing to come in and help a local finance company, and sit on the board and help grow the business, then I would want that to happen,' he said.

'What really drives me is when I have discovered that I really helped that person with their business, and I am looking for an investor with that same mind set to come and talk to me.'

Credo Asset Finance, which has offices on Thorpe Road and in Colchester, arranges agreements for SME's who are looking to finance assets, including vehicles and equipment from IT equipment to large-scale machinery.

So far, the firm has brokered more than £80m in finance to its customers, with an ambition to lend £20m to businesses by the end of this year.