Small businesses are not getting help

| 12/07/2020 | 19 Comments

I am a Caymanian with a small business with two employees. I tried to get this (Cayman Islands Development Bank) loan. OMG what a nightmare! My business is service oriented so I don’t have any real assets. I buy clothes and jewelry and resell or make costume jewelry.

I have no sales yet I’m paying my Caymanian staff and paying rent and health insurance. I was told I had to find someone that will put up collateral for me 125% of the value of the loan. Where do I find someone to stand $25,000 for me?

Yes, I don’t have that kind of money. I pay everyone on time and I take care of all my family bills. Can someone please assist small businesses, not just go on TV and give empty promises that we small businesses cannot benefit from. I pay my way and have not asked for anything. I do no not want to sack my employees, I just need support until the economy starts to recover.

I will repay the loan. I just don’t have $25,000 lying around.

This comment was made in response to: Bank needs collateral for cheap loans


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Category: Business, Small Business

Comments (19)

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  1. Gray Matter says:

    You fall under the category of a NON ESSENTIAL PERSON in Business. Wash day and no Soap.

  2. Anonymous says:

    This is like the health insurance assistance, OFFERED to small business – I think they said five loans had been finalized (paid out). It would be interesting to know who received those????

  3. Anonymous says:

    Can you explain to me why they keep handing out new T&B licenses?

    how many plumbers do we need?

    How many landscaping companies do we need?

    How many dive companies?

    WHEN WILL IT STOP.

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    • Anonymous says:

      It will stop when fronting gets investigated and prosecuted. Not before.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Why does it matter and why do you care?
      If the market supports more plumbers, landscapers or divers then they will be able to run their businesses.

      I will admit that plenty of those you’ve described have no business as business owners and operate piss-poor companies. However, the market sustains them. Right now markets are contracting and those that can’t hang will fail and shutter. That’s how it works.

      Why exactly you care that they’re given licenses or allowed to operate is a different story and really not your (or anyone else’s) business.

  4. Anonymous says:

    So, in summary, you can’t get a collateralised loan without collateral. Er, ok.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    You’re not going to like this…and I’m predicting plenty of flack for my next statement ahead of time.

    However, if your business is as small as I’m inferring it is then you may want to consider a regular career instead of owning such a small entity.

    It’s nothing against you or your business, but small businesses that are this tiny and unable to secure financing in that amount are really not sustainable in today’s economy. It might work for a long time, but as soon as there is a hiccup, or a pandemic, or a major change in spending habits and it all goes up in a flash. There’s not likely enough margin for you to really build up in good times so surviving may not be realistic.

    Many companies, small and large, go bankrupt and out of business all the time. Daily. It happens, and unfortunately a regular job might be better for you than this type of entrepreneurship.

    Good luck with everything regardless

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Another example of lies brought to the public by Joey Hew minister of commerce & politicks. Nothing he has touched works or works properly slick talking is not enough for regular people and small businesses.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    If you are connected to any lodge folks you’ll get hooked up.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Regrettably , unless CIG allows tourism to resume in some form and open our borders in a managed way to allow this, the economy
    will be dead in the water for many small businesses that relied on the former tourism product we had. Simply put , there will be no other option for them for future revenue.

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    • Anonymous says:

      That’s fairly dismissive of the high disposable income local consumer market that remains mostly unchanged. Local retail appetite is echelons higher than cruise traffic buying shot glasses and tshirts. If that’s all you’d been selling, you’d need to warehouse the Cayman-branded Made-in-China crap in some garbage bags, and rethink foot-traffic location and product offering. The old Foster’s location at the Strand could be rented as an air conditioned co-op with Farmer’s market sellers, local cottage sellers, and anyone else. They have location, parking, and space available, and likely no better offers. Might even be able to sell a bag of that Chinese crap to sentimental residents that always avoided the crowds downtown.

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  9. Analysis says:

    Don’t go for that loan. Go for the grant. That loan is a Joey joke. You will not get a cent. I tried for it. And and have a MBA from a major university and a company with a debt to income ratio of 5%. Our assets are fully owned. We only have some pension debt that occurred during the shutdown. Go for the grant. You don’t have to pay it back. The loan is a useless joke

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    • Anonymous says:

      Sounds like instead of giving advice anonymously you should probably pay your pension debt.

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    • Anonymous says:

      This entire process is a sick joke administered by Joey the joker

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      • Anonymous says:

        Yes we know that, but some of us are just not willing to make a verbal contract with Lucifer.
        I would rather go under.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    On the surface, it doesn’t sound like you have fully settled on the primary business activity. ie. Are you an importer, or a cottage manufacturing company – willing to do anything? It seems there are some decisions to be made on what the primary revenue line is. Maybe ask to meet with one of the professional accountants offering their advice right now for free, and they may suggest the same. They can help create a business strategic plan and budget – and you may want to buttress that with customer testimonials if you have a special talent or eye. If it all makes commercial sense, shop it for local investor interest via the CNS Notice Board. There are probably enough people here with pension refund cash or other cash that might want to spin the wheel. A rational plan might also instruct you to suspend that activity and release your staff to do something else. Being honest that it’s the end of the line (for now) can also be a relief. Best of luck!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Clothes and jewelry compliment each other. Why suggest that she have only one main item? Also it’s great she makes some of the jewelry. The rest of your suggestions are sounds. Perhaps pivoting and doing a different business now is best overall. How can you add to that space and still make an income? What are the products people buy during hard times?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Being a business owner with employees is hard and scary at the best of times, so hats off to them for that – especially being a responsible boss during hard times. That aside, it’s important to understand what the main defining business activity is, as a manager, so that capital is focused. Distribution and manufacturing are different activities, each with their own capital requirements, inputs, and budget process. Is the rent being paid on a retail storefront, or for manufacturing and warehousing? Is there sufficient consumer demand for both activities? The operator needs to always be collecting data from a crowded (and impaired) market. Cayman retail storefronts were mostly forced to adapt and go online for curbside pickup if they could. That’s easing as closed stores are physically reopening again, even as they have 4-5 month’s normal inventories piled up. We can infer that there is a glut of consumer merchandise warehoused or in-transit to work through – some of it, probably will be disposed of at a discount. Meanwhile, shipping/customs brokers like Mailboxes Etc have been booming with private consumer USA online order boxes piled to the ceiling. Customs is working through the backlog with minimum delays of 1-2 weeks. Some consumers haven’t stopped buying, they may have actually increased their pace of buying during COVID, just from different off-island online sources. Are they satiated? Business operators should understand the void their business serves, and either adapt or close if those circumstances change. Depending on where it is and what its for, it might be helpful to quit the current lease, centralize location to a higher foot-traffic area, and form a retail alliance or co-op of smaller cottage sellers sharing higher rent with lower commitments. This has seen success in many metropolitan high-rent areas – some of which are now seeing a round of vacancies from bankrupt anchor chainstore tenants. Its the smaller grouped cottage sellers that are not only hanging on, but drawing in the shoppers due to the variety of novel one-of-a-kind creativity on sale.

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