In 2020 Jonathan started CHMS together with 3 friends. They specialise in various branding solutions such as branded notebooks, caps, umbrellas and branding for buildings. Being entrepreneurial at heart, they soon after launched another business – a restaurant and lounge in Ndola called Leonidas.
Like other startups they have struggled to find their feet. Jonathan and his partners turned to Inde Credit when they were lucky to receive a big order that they couldn’t finance themselves and nearly had to turn down. “With banks, they offer financing on paper, but it’s hard to get approved and meet their requirements. Other financial institutions might be able to offer financing without collateral, but their interest rates are too high. Inde’s interest rates are manageable and affordable for the Zambian market,” he says.
They wanted to use Inde Credit’s Order Financing solution, but were faced with a few challenges in supplying the necessary collateral. Inde’s advisors were able to find a solution through Invoice Discounting, for which they were approved quickly and without any issues.
For Jonathan the human aspect of Inde Credit’s advisory service proved invaluable, even when they were turned down for the Order Financing solution. “The difference between the different solutions was a bit confusing. When they didn’t want to accept the collateral offered for Order Financing we had to talk around it. Since we had developed a relationship with them, we found a way forward,” he says.
As many others, Jonathan finds that there is a lack of information regarding financial solutions. “Information is only given to you based on what you ask. But not all of us are knowledgeable. If things could be explained a bit more, with maybe pros and cons, we can weigh our options and decide for ourselves,” he explains.
CHMS continues their relationship with Inde Credit and Jonathan keeps educating himself to gain more knowledge about every little thing in business so he can keep growing his companies.
