Success Story
| Region/Nation | London |
|---|---|
| Programme | Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) |
| Partner |
Only four months into its life as a business, Harvey House Nursery was forced to close to help stop the spread of COVID-19. With ongoing debt repayments to meet but no incoming revenue, the nursery sought financial support via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
Read what it had to say in this CBILS case study.
British Business Bank: Can you tell us what your organisation does?
Navneet Bansal, manager of Harvey House Nursery: We’re a nursery in Leytonstone, East London that employs 17 staff and provides childcare and a stimulating, learning environment to nearly 70 babies and young children aged three to five years old.
The coronavirus has affected a huge number of businesses across the UK. What problems were you facing as a result of the outbreak and what made you apply for CBILS support?
Having cared for children for many years myself, I opened the nursery to address a shortage of childcare in Leytonstone. Harvey House opened in December 2019, but was forced to close four months later due to COVID-19.
The closure hit us hard as we had yearly debt repayments of £113,000. That quickly became unsustainable as time went on and we waited to hear when children would be allowed to return to nursery care.
How long did the application process take? Did you need any support?
It took four weeks, and throughout the process we were impressed by how efficient Fiduciam was in dealing with our application.
As a start-up SME, it’s difficult to get finance at the best of times. Thanks to CBILS we’ve been able to lower our debt repayment costs and put ourselves on a very stable footing for the future. Navneet Bansal manager of Harvey House Nursery
What advice would you give to other businesses that are applying for a CBILS loan?
Despite our initial success and my own history in the childcare sector, the business didn’t yet have the track record that the high-street banks were looking for, which meant we had to turn to other alternative lenders like Fiduciam.
How has the CBILS loan helped your organisation to weather the outbreak? And what might have happened if you hadn’t received it?
As a start-up SME, it’s difficult to get finance at the best of times. Thanks to CBILS we’ve been able to lower what would’ve been very overbearing finance costs. We didn’t want to pass on these costs to the parents or cut the quality of our childcare. The CBILS loan puts us on a very stable financial footing and ensures that all children continue to receive the learning experience they deserve.
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