What each financing tool does, which business need it serves, and how the options differ — before you decide what to apply for.
Funding stock, fulfilling a contract, buying equipment, and expanding a business create different financing needs. Explore how the tools work before deciding what to apply for.
Cash is coming, but it is stuck in invoices your customers have not paid yet.
Open the playbookYou won the work. Now you must fund materials and delivery before the buyer pays.
Open the playbookA machine or vehicle that should pay for itself through what it produces.
Open the playbookBigger premises, a new line, a second outlet — capital for the next stage.
Open the playbookBrowse by business need
Facilities offered by licensed banks — the most common starting point, usually the widest range and the lowest cost for businesses that qualify.
A fixed sum of financing from a bank, repaid over an agreed period. Term financing funds a specific purpose; working-capital facilities fund day-to-day operations.
A standing credit limit on your business account that you draw on when cash is short and repay when it comes in. You pay for what you use, when you use it.
Facilities built around a specific trade transaction — letters of credit, trust receipts, and similar instruments that pay your supplier and give you time to sell the goods.
A promise from the bank to pay a third party (for example a project owner or supplier) if your business fails to meet a commitment. It is a contingent facility — no money moves unless the guarantee is called.
Financing against your unpaid invoices: the bank advances a percentage of approved invoices and you settle when your customer pays.
Term financing specifically for machinery, equipment or vehicles, where the asset itself usually serves as security for the facility.
Asset finance where the financier owns the asset during the term: with hire purchase you own it at the end; with leasing you rent it and may return, renew or buy it.
Shariah-compliant versions of most facilities above, built on contracts such as murabahah (cost-plus sale), ijarah (leasing), tawarruq (monetisation) or musharakah (partnership) instead of interest-bearing lending.
Non-bank routes — licensed platforms, funds and finance companies outside the banks. Often faster or more flexible, and open to businesses a bank has turned down.
Debt financing raised through a licensed peer-to-peer platform: many investors fund your financing request, and you repay with profit or interest over an agreed term. It is debt — it must be repaid.
Equity fundraising through a licensed platform: investors buy a stake in your company. Unlike every other tool here, this is not debt — there is nothing to repay, but you give up ownership.
Selling your invoices to a factoring provider: they buy the receivable, collect from your customer, and advance you most of the value upfront. Terms are provider-specific and differ from bank invoice financing.
Equipment and vehicle finance from non-bank finance companies — similar in shape to hire purchase or leasing, often with different approval criteria than banks.
Funding tied to a confirmed purchase order or contract: the provider finances the cost of fulfilling a specific order, and is repaid when the buyer pays.
Capital that is not a financing facility — mainly government and agency grants for specific purposes, usually not repaid but tied to conditions.
Grants are capital support, not loans or financing facilities — they usually do not need to be repaid, but come with conditions to verify.
Government or agency funding for specific purposes — digitalisation, automation, market expansion — that usually does not need to be repaid. This is capital support, not a financing facility.
A match is not an approval or a promise of eligibility. The provider decides.