COK Sodality targets MSMEs with new Micro Unit
WITH the Government giving special focus to the Micro, Small and Medium-size Enterprises (MSMEs) sector, COK Sodality Credit Union will this morning open a Micro Unit at its headquarters in Cross Roads, St Andrew.
The unit is already staffed with six officers across the island, said COK Sodality CEO Jacqueline Mighty.
“We’re really looking for opportunities to help members who are in small businesses to find funding, so we partner with entities like the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) that lend funds at reduced rates so that we can lend to our members,” Mighty told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.
Two weeks ago, Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips told Parliament that the DBJ had approved 8,844 loans valued at $3.3 billion to MSMEs during the first 11 months of the 2014/15 fiscal year.
The figure, Phillips said, exceeds the $3-billion target set for the financial year.
“As a result of the amendments being made to their loan guarantee programme, known as the Credit Enhancement Facility, the board of the DBJ has taken the decision to increase the maximum value of the guarantee from $10 million to $15 million to cover up to 50 per cent of DBJ SME loans being accessed,” Phillips said in his budget presentation, adding that for the coming year, the DBJ has set a loan target of $4 billion for the sector.
The new Micro Unit, Mighty explained, forms part of COK’s push to help more of its over 260,000 members who are interested in starting businesses.
“A lot of people don’t think that they can come to their credit union,” said Mighty. “We are saying to our members, whatever field of business you are in, come and talk to us. We will help to find and package for you what is the best programme.”
That package, Mighty explained, involves advice on accounting procedures. “What we’re really trying to do is work with external parties to see how we can help our members to put their house in order,” she said.
Small businesses requiring funding of up to $5 million are those being targeted by COK, given that the credit union has been approved to get financing from the DBJ to on-lend.
