So before P2P lending came about, how did small companies or SMEs get funding since the banks do not want to lend to them?

Here are my guess:
Funding from the government
Family and friends
Own savings
Unlicensed money lender
Crowdfunding

Anyway the limitations are either high interest rate or slow process

NO expert here, but I think they would have to go through licensed money lenders - not entirely sure where these money lenders get their money either, but they charge a really high interest rate. If all else fails, they probably borrow from unlicensed ones, or take personal loans, or borrow from friends. Which then leads to all the typical drama-type scenarios that you see on channel 8