The BBC’s weekly The Boss series profiles a different business leader from around the world. This week we speak to Samir Desai, founder of peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle.

Friends often share money-making ideas over a few drinks in a pub, but it is not often that the scheme in question ends up creating a billion pound business.

But that is ultimately what happened after Samir Desai first discussed his big vision with two old university mates when they met up for a few pints in a bar in central London in 2008.

At the time the UK and the rest of the world were still mired in the maelstrom of the global financial crisis.

As a result, banks had stopped lending to small businesses.

The situation looked hopeless for small firms, but Samir – then a 26-year-old management consultant – had come up with what he thought was a good idea. He wanted to remove the banks from the equation, and instead allow the companies to more easily borrow funds from elsewhere.

Specifically he wanted to create an online marketplace where small firms could apply to borrow money from a pool of funds supplied by individuals and other businesses – peer-to-peer lending.

Samir’s friends from his Oxford University days – James Meekings and Andrew Mullinger – both agreed that it was potentially a great idea for a business, so the three of them decided to research its feasibility.

In 2009 they quit their jobs and started work on Funding Circle, which then launched in 2010.

Earlier this month, the company became the first lender of its type to float on the London Stock Exchange, and is now valued at more than £1.3bn. An impressive figure, albeit down from its initial listing price of £1.5bn with analysts saying the flotation may have overpriced the firm.