Marketing manager Cheraine Marshall for Dunn’s Home Center has informed the Jamaica Observer that the furniture, lighting, and hardware company will begin engaging the services of LASCO Microfinance Ltd to facilitate customers purchasing its products.

“We have an upcoming partnership with them (LASCO Microfinance Limited) where they are [managing] all our financing. So, in terms of furniture, home decor, hardware, and fixture pieces, LASCO Microfinance is our official partners,” Marshall told Sunday Finance in an interview last Thursday at an open house where the financial service provider had a booth set up.

The open house took place at Dunn’s Home Centre’s Red Hills Road office in St Andrew. Held under the theme ‘Conversations in Design: Evolution’, the event was among many scheduled for the duration of the Jamaica Observer’s Design Week 2019, which began on Saturday, September 21 and ends today.

Marshall revealed that a contract has already been signed by Dunn’s Home Centre and Lasco Microfinancing Limited for the provision of the new service; however, both companies are currently in talks to finalise the roll-out.

Also located on Red Hills Road, LASCO Microfinance Limited is a subsidiary of LASCO Financial Services Limited (LFSL), which offers cambio, bill payment, phone credit and SMART card top-up services. LFSL is also a local franchisee of MoneyGram International.

When Sunday Finance inquired about how customers may access the services of LASCO Microfinance, Marshall explained that the loans can be finalised on location with the loans provider.

“We will never want to inconvenience our customers by allowing them to go down the road. Everything can be done here; [LASCO Microfinance] will have a designated space, and so they [customers] will be dealing with an in-house representative to speak with,” Marshall pointed out.

The marketing manager also said, in relation to her company’s participation in Design Week, that she is predicting a significant increase in both sales and walk-ins, while crediting the Jamaica Observer for providing such a platform.

“I definitely foresee sales going up by 30 per cent …And in terms of coverage, we got huge mileage, especially with participating designers. So I do expect to see, even if it’s not reflected in sales, it’s reflected in the number of walk-ins on a daily basis,” she disclosed.

Sunday Finance has since learnt that LASCO Microfinance may also be partnering with another Jamaica Observer Design Week participant to provide financing for the purchase of goods. However, efforts to reach a representative of that company were unsuccessful up to press time.