JAMAICANS who have been following the Finsac enquiry will recognise Yola Gray-Baker as the wife of Milton Baker, whose business crumbled during the financial meltdown of the 1990s. What most people don’t know, however, is that Gray-Baker has made a name for herself as a designer, whose pieces have been sold in premium boutiques from North America to Europe. A door is even open for her to produce a design for First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.

But instead of cashing in on her increasing popularity as a designer, Gray-Baker is being forced out of the business due to her inability to secure the financing necessary to continue her operations and satisfy demand. A month ago, she had to shut down her three-month-old Trafalgar Road showroom, House of Flayva, and lay-off all six of her employees.

Gray-Baker’s inability to secure financing is a hangover from the losses she and her husband incurred during the Finsac years — she has no collateral.

Life changed for the worst for the Bakers in 1994 after Milton, a successful building contractor at the time, decided to borrow $10 million at 35 per cent interest to do two contracts, using his home along with two other properties as collateral. The two contracted jobs — one, a printery in Kingston; the other, a shopping mall in Montego Bay — proved their downfall.

In the first case, the owner of the building was unable to pay Baker and eventually lost his property to the bank as the economy tightened in the mid-1990s. The other client simply refused to pay, even after being taken to Court.

The Bakers’ loan, which they insist was being serviced, was sent to the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (Finsac) and was one of the 24,000 loan accounts sold to overseas debt collector Dennis Joslin, founder of Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation Inc (JRF). Indebted to the JRF, the Bakers have repaid close to $52 million and have lost all their tangible assets — including their Grosvenor Terrace family home — to the debt collector, but remarkably still owe them $85 million.

Against that background, Gray-Baker has been unable to meet the collateral requirements of local lending institutions to acquire a loan and get her designing business off the ground.

“I’ve done everything. This is not just forming a company and ‘sew and sell’,” said a solemn Gray-Baker, making reference to the amount of work she has put into the business.

In 2000, the self-made fashion designer emerged on the scene with her Flayva Fashions. Having lived and worked in Chicago, USA, she aligned herself with the Chicago Apparel Industry Board so she could keep abreast of the fashion trends in that market. Since then, her bold high-end designs have developed a following in that market — where they have been featured on the racks at Macy’s Chicago — and beyond. She also gained local recognition, as she was the recipient of the Avant-Garde Designer award from Saint International during its Style Week Jamaica 2007.

So, it came as no surprise that after many years of honing her skills and growing brand awareness, she decided to turn what was once a mere hobby into a large-scale business venture.

“I made a business plan that cost me over $300,000, a catalogue, a website and I went overseas to market my stuff,” she said.

She then applied for and received a $1-million grant from the Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the purchase of machines, and proceeded to set up House of Flayva in September 2009.

But not long after Gray-Baker opened her showroom and probably harboured thoughts of using it as a vehicle to put her family back on a firm financial footing, the business collapsed under the weight of cash flow difficulties which she blamed on her inability to access financing.

“I get people calling my phone from all over the place to provide clothes,” she told Sunday Finance. “I have orders from Guadeloupe, Paris, Antigua, Chicago, Canada, Florida and Atlanta, but I have no money to produce.”

Gray-Baker acknowledged that the problem she faces is shared by many aspiring entrepreneurs in Jamaica, armed with a great idea but no funds to back it up and no collateral to secure a loan.

“Everybody — NCB (National Commercial Bank), BNS (Scotiabank) et al — come with their special loan facility but what’s the point if the people don’t have the collateral to get it?” she asked. “They want collateral and we have none.”

Gray-Baker has now retreated to small-scale production but she is hoping to make an even bigger name for herself by supplying apparel to high-end clients, such as Michelle Obama, who she said has requested that she design a dress for her.

“It will be very subtle, very classy, using the Rasta and Jamaican colours,” she said. “This is something we need to get Jamaica out there.”

According to Gray-Baker, the linkage between her and the US First Lady was made via her daughter, Katherine Samuels, who works in the Chicago Senate Office, formerly headed by Michelle Obama’s husband, US President Barack Obama.

Gray-Baker said her fear is that, after the exposure gained from producing a dress for the US First Lady, she will again face the same problem of financing which derailed her business plans before.

“I’m preparing the design, hoping that I can do it,” she said. “But, after that, what next?”