The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A leading small business consultant told Tribune Business he has “lost at least 50 per cent” of his client base over the last three years, as he urged potential microlenders to focus on the technology, manufacturing and creative sectors.

Mark Turnquest, principal of Mark A. Turnquest Consulting and a BAIC Board member, pointing to 16 business clients who wanted to expand but could not due to an inability to obtain financing, said no new Bahamian entrepreneurs or small businesses were replacing those who had been lost during the recession.

Praising Progressive Consumer Services and Transfer Solutions Providers (Mango) for their renewed focus on the microfinance and lending market, Mr Turnquest said credit advanced to small businesses must be linked to job creation and cover more than just start-up costs.

“I’m so happy, so grateful to Mango and Progressive for thinking about small people, because right now the banks are not willing to lend money,” Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business.

“Right now, we need it, and once we have it you will see a lot of businesses popping up that have the potential to hire a lot of people.

“I have lost at least 50 per cent of my client base over the last three years because they’ve gone out of business, and the new ones and entrepreneurs are very few and far between right now because they can’t get the money.

“I can produce a great business plan for my clients, but if they can’t get the financing, it’s no go. If they do not get the money, I am useless. I can make them business ready, but because they don’t have the financing I have a very low rate of success with new entrepreneurs. That’s how the market is. The cupboard is bare when it comes to business financing.”

With the recession, unemployment and a high level of non-performing loans making commercial banks especially cautious on business lending, Mr Turnquest said innovative entrepreneurs were having a particularly hard time.

“I have a lot of customers who have innovative businesses, but the banks say they’re too risky because they are ‘out-of-the-box’ type ideas,” he added.

“They can’t seek financing because their risk profile is higher than normal....

“I have 16 businesses wanting to expand in creative segments such as food processing exporting. That’s a major multi-million dollar agricultural sector where everything is done under one roof.”

Suggesting that the private and public sectors combined needed to create a net 700 new jobs every month for the next three years to get the unemployment numbers down to a respectable level, Mr Turnquest said micro and small business lending needed to be tied to the use of technology and alternative energy by the borrower, plus job creation.

And he argued that the sums advanced by lenders needed to be at least $25,000-$30,000 to make a meaningful difference. If credit was limited, it would be “wasted” on start-up costs and “not be beneficial in the long-run”.

“Spread the costs over a lot of people and give them a chance,” Mr Turnquest argued.

“I would like them [Mango and Progressive] to focus on technology, manufacturing and the creative industries. They are seriously underserved in the marketplace, and they could provide a lot of jobs.

“They [Progressive and Mango] have to be comprehensive and want to serve every high risk business.”

Noting that the Bahamas had lost at least two percentage points in agriculture’s share of Bahamian GDP, which had fallen from 5 per cent to 3 per cent, Mr Turnquest urged his countrymen to invest in local businesses.

“We need domestic investment most importantly - Bahamians need to invest in domestic businesses,” he told Tribune Business.

“I’m going to sit down and talk with the Mango people to show what the position is in the market, and my client base. We also need the small business community to up their game in terms of transparency and accountability.”