Do you recognize the following situations as an entrepreneur?
- You have a hard time with the profit and the turnover. Unexpected disappointments. The tax authorities that no longer tolerate an extension.
- It works for you, a very large assignment lies ahead. However, you have to invest heavily to be able to handle that assignment.
- You are innovating, you have a promising concept, the start-up costs require extra investments. Even now you need extra money.
- You will come to your house banker, who will tell you casually that the overdraft must be halved within 6 months.
Sleepless nights of worry. How do I keep my people working, how can I pay them? How do I avoid debt and how do I get out of it? All kinds of scenarios go through your head. Fortunately, you still have a partner who has an independent income, so you do not fall below the level of assistance thanks to that income.
You first walk into your house banker. You thought you had a lasting relationship with that, but they are not open for an extra credit of € 50.000 or € 100.000. You are told that the bank already considers the risk too high. New requirements for the banks arising from the Basel Accord. Unfortunately, they can do nothing for you.
Who can help you then? The MKB Doorstart foundation is an organization that helps entrepreneurs find their way in the jungle of possibilities and impossibilities for you as an entrepreneur. There is something extra for entrepreneurs from Flevoland: the MKB Doorstartfonds. Suppose you have, as outlined, a partner with an independent income above social assistance level. In that case you cannot make use of the Self-employed Persons Assistance Decree (the Bbz scheme) as your municipality must implement it. In Flevoland there is the SME Restart Fund for those cases. If your company is fundamentally viable and there is a good prospect of repayment, there is the option of getting a loan of up to approx. € 190.000 from that fund for a period of up to 5 years at an interest rate of up to 10 percent. That may not sound very attractive, but as the last straw to save your company and to make it a renewed or extra success with some coaching, it will be an excellent alternative.
For more information, please contact www.mkbdoorstart.nl. This first-line aid is currently still free in the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland, Overijssel, North Brabant and Zeeland thanks to contributions from these provinces and a number of municipalities. MKB Doorstart is an independent not for profit organization that aims to help entrepreneurs who want to continue in the forest of possibilities. The SME Restart Fund was set up in collaboration between the province of Flevoland and the Self-Employed Counter Flevoland (ZLF).
Help is available. Don't ask too late and avoid sleepless nights.
Joan Algra, entrepreneur advisor SME Restart