BEVERLEY Brown, 52, spent her early years making brooms and baskets, which she sold on the roadside a few miles from her home in Fyffe Pen District, St Elizabeth.

She had learned the skill from her parents, Henry and Mavis Stephens, who before her made and sold straw baskets and brooms for a living. However, Brown and her husband Alton, 62, found that the returns from selling brooms and baskets could not adequately support them and their seven children, the youngest of whom is now 14 years old.

An opportunity to earn more came in 2002 when Brown, then in her forties, travelled to Kingston to visit her sister, Audrey, in Greenwich Farm, St Andrew. She discovered that her brother-in-law, Sonny, now deceased, was making a good living as a potter.

“He was making pots and selling them at Three Miles,” Brown said. “And they were fetching better prices than my brooms and baskets. Therefore, I decided to learn the skill so that I could earn more.”

After taking a year to learn the trade from her brother-in-law, Brown returned to St Elizabeth to start her own pottery business. But first, she needed the funds to purchase the necessary material and equipment to launch the business.

“Alton and I struggled for a few years,” she explained. “And then, in 2006, I was at the annual Denbigh Agricultural Show and went over to the Jamaica National Small Business Loans booth. They told me about the low-interest loans that they offered.”

She later visited the Jamaica National Small Business Loans Santa Cruz branch and applied for a BizStart loan — a product specifically designed to start a micro business.

Brown got the loan and since then has borrowed a cumulative $360,000. With the initial loan amount, she and her husband embarked on the pottery business, making and selling a variety of pots in addition to their brooms — with the help of three of their children.

“My husband is not very well, but he is able to mould the clay and I ‘throw’ the pots, while the children help me to sell them,” said Brown, who sells about 20 pots each week.

The pots go for between $500 and $3,000.

Meanwhile, the JN team in Santa Cruz, whose clients are mostly women, have nothing but high praise for Brown.

“Mrs Brown has been an exceptional client,” said Marsha Salmon, JN’s small business loan field officer, said in a release to the media. “Along with her husband and children, she has created a viable business operation, and in time, could generate employment for others, hence the need to assist them to continue to grow their business.”

After receiving her first loan, Brown’s business and personal life changed. She was able to purchase a car to transport the pottery to the tourist resort town of Negril in Westmoreland where she has found a lucrative outlet for the products. Brown also saved funds from the sales generated by the business to purchase a parcel of land. And in addition to the financial boost from the loans, she accessed training through her field officer, Salmon, at no extra cost.

“Marsha is a professional field officer,” noted Brown, who is now moving towards formally registering her business — a name for which she has not yet decided on.

“She visited my home several times to ensure that I was doing the right things to grow my business, and advised me how to market my goods. (She also) helped me to gather information about items that people really wanted to acquire,” she added.

BizStart loan applicants can borrow up to $132,000 at an interest rate of one per cent per week. The minimum loan term is 10 weeks up to a maximum of 30 weeks. A 12-week moratorium is also offered to individuals involved in manufacturing, agro-processing, agriculture and general services. Appliances are accepted as collateral while no loan processing fees are charged.