“I used to work at NCB (National Commercial Bank). When I left NCB, I started my first loan company at the age of 24, a company called M24 Investments in Lucea, Hanover,” Kadeen Mairs reflected as he took a deep breath. Mairs, previously worked as a loans officer at various branches of the NCB in rural Jamaica. “While I was working at the bank I would visit small businesses in need of loans, but because of the requirements to get these loans, a lot of the small businesses would not qualify to get the loan. But I could see the potential in these businesses and I realised there was a market for loans to informal businesses that are not structured enough to access credit from the bank,” he continued. “That was a big market so I decided to tap into that market starting small. I took a loan and on lend that money to small businesses.” He said the seed funds for his company came through two loans totalling $4 million. “When I started out in Lucea, I used to give loans to a lot of persons in the bus park, in the market, the soup man, the vegetable lady, the conductor, the bus driver. Everyone who had a need to cover short-term expenses or needed money to grow their micro business. I would be that filler for that gap for them.” He told the Jamaica Observer that banks did not target these people’s micro businesses for loans, because “the soup man who is selling in the bus park doesn’t keep accounting records of his purchases and sales”, leaving the opportunity for someone like himself to step in. In the beginning he said things were not smooth sailing. “As a startup you have to go into your personal funds or ask a friend or family to help you meet your payroll at times.” Still he celebrated the wins. “In terms of success, I have seen where we would have a customer in the market who started with a small stall and continue borrowing and in the process, grow that stall into a shop.” But still there were challenges. “I’ve had instances where people would borrow and migrate. We also have instances where customers borrow and worked genuinely for the business to succeed but it still end up failing, and that’s a loss for myself and the customer.” Four years after starting the business, Mairs would however sell the entity to Dolla Financial Services, a cambio and remittance outfit owned by Stocks and Securities Limited. “The end result was I took part ownership in Dolla Financial. We discontinued the cambio services and the remittance service that we had going on at Dolla and started focusing exclusively on loans.” Mairs now owns 25 per cent of the company through an entity called Dequity Capital, with First Rock owning the other 75 per cent. He remained with the company as CEO. With the coming regulation of businesses like his by the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), Mairs said he is unbothered and even welcome the move. “Dolla Financial operated under BOJ supervision previously with its cambio and remittances licence. So we had already structured the company to be ready for reporting to a regulatory body, our structure was already built for that, so internally we will not be making much change.” “Currently we have eight branches and by the end of the year, we are looking to have 12.” “We will always continue to expand the branch network. We are in Guyana now and we are currently exploring money lending licences in other Caricom countries, including the Bahamas,” he added. Adapted from the Jamaica Observer Identify and discuss in detail, the four (4) areas which Maris must consider when conducting such a feasibility analysis.
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Dolla Financial
“I used to work at NCB (National Commercial Bank). When I left NCB, I started my first loan company at the age of 24, a company called M24 Investments in Lucea, Hanover,” Kadeen Mairs reflected as he took a deep breath.
Mairs, previously worked as a loans officer at various branches of the NCB in rural Jamaica. “While I was working at the bank I would visit small businesses in need of loans, but because of the requirements to get these loans, a lot of the small businesses would not qualify to get the loan. But I could see the potential in these businesses and I realised there was a market for loans to informal businesses that are not structured enough to access credit from the bank,” he continued. “That was a big market so I decided to tap into that market starting small. I took a loan and on lend that money to small businesses.”
He said the seed funds for his company came through two loans totalling $4 million.
“When I started out in Lucea, I used to give loans to a lot of persons in the bus park, in the market, the soup man, the vegetable lady, the conductor, the bus driver. Everyone who had a need to cover short-term expenses or needed money to grow their micro business.
I would be that filler for that gap for them.”
He told the Jamaica Observer that banks did not target these people’s micro businesses for loans, because “the soup man who is selling in the bus park doesn’t keep accounting records of his purchases and sales”, leaving the opportunity for someone like himself to step in.
In the beginning he said things were not smooth sailing. “As a startup you have to go into your personal funds or ask a friend or family to help you meet your payroll at times.” Still he celebrated the wins.
“In terms of success, I have seen where we would have a customer in the market who started with a small stall and continue borrowing and in the process, grow that stall into a shop.”
But still there were challenges. “I’ve had instances where people would borrow and migrate.
We also have instances where customers borrow and worked genuinely for the business to succeed but it still end up failing, and that’s a loss for myself and the customer.”
Four years after starting the business, Mairs would however sell the entity to Dolla Financial Services, a cambio and remittance outfit owned by Stocks and Securities Limited.
“The end result was I took part ownership in Dolla Financial. We discontinued the cambio services and the remittance service that we had going on at Dolla and started focusing exclusively on loans.”
Mairs now owns 25 per cent of the company through an entity called Dequity Capital, with First Rock owning the other 75 per cent. He remained with the company as CEO. With the coming regulation of businesses like his by the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), Mairs said he is unbothered and even welcome the move. “Dolla Financial operated under BOJ supervision previously with its cambio and remittances licence. So we had already structured the company to be ready for reporting to a regulatory body, our structure was already built for that, so internally we will not be making much change.” “Currently we have eight branches and by the end of the year, we are looking to have 12.”
“We will always continue to expand the branch network. We are in Guyana now and we are currently exploring money lending licences in other Caricom countries, including the Bahamas,” he added.
Adapted from the Jamaica Observer
Identify and discuss in detail, the four (4) areas which Maris must consider when conducting
such a feasibility analysis.
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