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PanCaribbeanBank Guides Fashion Designers
on Sourcing Capital
BUSINESS LOUNGE
Kingston, Jamaica: -- PanCaribbeanBank Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Philip Armstrong says fashion designers need to develop a structured approach to their business in order to attract capital.
business,” he further said. “If we don’t understand it we are not going to invest in it, we are not going to lend to it.” Also parts of the forum were: Director of Miami to
He was one of four speakers during the PanCaribbeanBank sponsored inaugural Caribbean Fashion Week (CFW) Business Forum at the Hilton Hotel on Sunday June 14, 2009. Outlining what he described as “a design for bankers”, Armstrong said there were five criteria that designers would need to meet when approaching a financial institution for a loan. He said banks usually examine character, how much money the entrepreneur has invested in the business, the cash flow of the business, the competitive environment, and collateral. Also noting that knowledge drives interest Armstrong
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PanCaribbeanBank Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Philip Armstrong, discusses business start-ups, financing and development during the PanCaribbeanBank sponsored Caribbean Fashion Week (CFW) Business Forum at the Hilton Kingston Hotel on Sunday June 14, 2009
Go and Miami Conventions Bureau, Carol-Ann Taylor, President and Executive Producer of MiamiFashionWeek, Beth Sobol and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Brussel’s based Mode Action, Madam Marie Martine Israel. Taylor presented on The Miami Fashion Market and the Fashion Buyer’s Perspective while Sobol spoke on US Marketing and Sales Opportunities through Miami Fashion Week. The final speaker Madam Martine presented on exporting to European Markets.
said, “fashion entrepreneurs need to make every effort to educate potential investors about their industry.” “People invest in businesses that they understand and therefore you have a responsibility to talk about it all times to potential investors or lenders to your
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Building a Small Business Brand:
Why Your Logo Matters (But Not That Much)
Your logo just doesn’t matter that much and neither does your company name. So, for all you small business owners who are spending hours every day pondering over your company name, wondering if you should call it “Smith Jewelers” or “Jewelry World”, or calling Uncle Joe to see if he likes your logo in dark blue or light blue, I have terrible news for you, it doesn’t really matter. How can this be, you say? Well, let’s take a couple real life examples and see how important their company name and logos were to their success. Ford, Dell, Hewlett-Packard—boy, they thought hard about those companies didn’t they? Hmm, what’s my last name? Great! McDonald’s (another winner of a name) has a big “M” for a logo. Nike has a swish, Microsoft has—nothing, just their name in an italic font. Now, before you run out and name your company “Slobby’s Suit Makers”, it’s important to be aware of what is important when developing your brand, and where you should spend your time, and money. When it comes to a company name, there are some excellent rules to abide by when you are in the “naming” process.
1.
Keep it short and easy to pronounce. If your last name is Stratklowvitz, you probably want to come up with another concept.
2.
Second, try to be descriptive with a subtle name that can let people know what you do.
3.
Pick a name that’s easy to spell, and someone can understand over the phone. Nothing is worse than having to repeat your company name 3 times until someone understands you. Once you’ve decided on your business name, GET A PROFESSIONAL LOGO DESIGN. Find a reputable designer, but please don’t jump on Word and try to create your own logo. As a new business, you are building credibility, and your customers will know. Here are some rules to consider when you are giving your designer some input:
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1.
Keep it simple: Big, crazy, illustrative logos are hard to print and produce on marketing collateral. If your logo wouldn’t look good on a golf ball, it may be too complex.
2.
Minimize your colors: Unless you own “Rainbow Dry Cleaners”keep your logo to 2 colors. Ideally, your logo will look good in grayscale as well.
Nike logo as expressed in the article
3.
Make it memorable: A slick, original logo is optimal. However, keep rule #1 in mind.
4.
Balance: If you use an icon, it is typically centered above the text, or to the left of the text. However, it’s ok to break the rules, if done with caution. Your brand is something that you will develop and build upon, and, if you grow large enough, may even change. However, keep in mind that people won’t buy because your logo is red or blue, they’ll buy from you because you have a desirable product or service at a reasonable price.
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Based in New York, Gail’s Graphic Designs offers a broad spectrum of creative design and communication solutions to assist in the marketing of your small business. Contact Gail Lewis at glewis@gailsdtp.com or visit Gail’s Graphic Designs at www.gailsdtp.com. | Joe Witte is a guest writer for Gail’s Graphic Designs.
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Mind Your Business
Provided by: Gail’s Graphic Designs
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When can Jamaica be consideredan emerging market?
Your Money Insights
by: Andre’ Burnett Of the28 countries described as being emerging markets, India, China, Russia and Brazil could be described as being the big boys on the new playground. These countries, especially those in Asia, have established themselves over the past two decades as being areas in which large Multinational Corporations (MNCs) have reaped major benefits from outsourcing aspects of their operations to achieve more robust results. In a previous article Your Money reported that Jamaica, although troubled, still registers on the radars of international companies as a viable enterprise even though we have a while to go before we will be officially be known as an emerging market.
a huge market for certain items. Mobile Manufacturer, Research in Motion and Car maker BMW are two of many companies that have identified Jamaica, though small, as being a big market for their products. Improving local service and sales operations, expanding local manufacturing facilities and increas-
Emerging Markets
The term was coined by Antoine W. Van Agtmael, an economist, in 1981 and described these countries as those having a low-to- middle per capita income. This definition would include over 80% of the world’s population but only about 20% of the world’s economies. Today the term refers to countries that have successfully restructured their economies to benefit from massive opportunities in trade, technology transfers and foreign direct investment (FDI). Today’s emerging markets are seeing a policy shift in their economic policies from “foreign assistance” to foreign investment. Many of these countries that made the transition from developing countries to emerging markets are countries which have seen the failure of state-led economic development and the subsequent need to adopt more open door policies to offset the damage done by years of borrowing from foreign governments and multilateral organizations.
Making the transition
“Change is inexorable and to be viable we must be open to the idea of change”. Jamaica is definitely not spared the challenges that face developing countries which yearn to make the transition to being emerging market economies. As a developing country, Jamaica needs to increase its capacity and its capabilities and at the same time reduce the factors that increase the risk to Foreign Investors.
Map showing emerging markets (labelled in blue) ing the skill and the size of the low cost work force need to be priorities if Jamaica is going to factor.
Capability
Research and development is a big part of almost any large company and Jamaica can stand to benefit from the expertise of these foreigners. The acquisition or creation of cutting edge technology, coupled with the increased skill base of our work force and modernized manufacturing capabilities are essential factors in being able to develop products for the local market and produce high end products for the world at competitive prices.
Risk
Developing countries are usually susceptible to certain risks such as geo-political stability, cultural clashes and most pertinent to Jamaica, exchange rate volatility. An unstable exchange rate has the capability to constrict the cash flow of MNCs and in these highly speculative times, the sensitivity of prices and volatile exchange rate could spell disaster.
Capacity
A big selling point of emerging markets is the fact that they have large populations hence large markets. Except in terms of the Caribbean, Jamaica’s population is a non-factor but the country has proven itself to be
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