Artisan 'props' up self

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

NOT SO long ago, Scheed Cole resigned what used to be his day job as an art teacher. These days, he can be found in the daytime at 85 West Road, Arnett Gardens, designing and building one-off advertising and marketing props.

"Right now, I am doing the biggest job to date," Cole said, refraining from divulging the identity of his client.

Cole works with a crew of about 10 apprentices in an earn-and-learn regime, thereby providing employ-ment and skills to mostly inner-city youth.

Cole started off designing and building props for the entertainment sector before moving into the manufacture of household and yard decorations. There is, for example, a fibreglass crocodile for the front yard, a water feature that currently retails at around $80,000, a price Cole reckons he can bring down if he can mass-produce.

Far from easy

But Cole's journey into business has been far from easy. It is more a story of perseverance and risk-taking.

As is so often the case with people going into business in Jamaica, the big issue has been capital - or a lack of it.

"The biggest headache I have faced over the years is getting loans," Cole said.

According to Cole, he has been to the National Commercial Bank and Jamaica National, as well as sought help from the Small Business Association of Jamaica and the Jamaica Business Development Corporation, and come away empty-handed every time.

He has even tried to access a grant from the British High Commission, but was unsuccessful.

"I think it is structure, a perception that this place could not work because of the people who were involved," said Cole, who registered his company, Props and More, five years ago, but has been going at aggressively for the past two. "It has certain structure."

Additionally, formal financiers questioned the viability of the operation and there was the matter of collateral they demanded, which Cole could not deliver.

"It was too risky," Cole said of assessing the assumptions of the institutions about his business.

"It is the first time anyone was doing this. They asked, 'Who makes props for a living?' The bank said they could not lend me any money as I had no tangible way of paying back."

Business model flawed

Also, he said, business consultants said it was not a good business model, as he had to spend to make props and then have stock on his hands, hoping that someone would turn up to purchase.

He did not fit into the microbusiness category either. When he sought financing via that route, what he had already built up exceeded the criteria.

Private financing has not been utilised either, as Cole revealed, "I haven't even had a friend who could put in $100,000."

He did, however, get two offers of $3 million and $3.5 million for a 50 per cent stake in his company. He turned them down.

The offers "made me see there was something worth investing in," Cole said.

So, he has been putting his own money into the venture, sometimes, when he was a teacher, his entire salary.

"Everything suffered," he told The Gleaner. "Family life suffered. Personal life. Can't find rent. Can't find food. Can't send the kids to school. I believed in it so much, that it could work, that I had to invest in it."

Cole's faith seems to be paying off. Business, he said, is on an upswing.

As was evident earlier this month, the workshop is busy and the premises are being remodelled to create more office space.

And as Cole remarked, there is that "biggest job to date".

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