Come and get it

From simple street vending to financing sections of masquerade bands, the money is there if you want it. Carnival is big, big business and getting even bigger as  more and more financial institutions are trying to cash in on the festival. For many years now Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago has become more and more entrenched as a sector which impacts significantly on this country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP.) And quietly and sometimes very subtly,  many of the country’s financial institutions have targetted Carnival as a niche market for making funding available for different aspects of the celebrations.  This year the covers were thrown off and the call to borrow money for Carnival was sent to the national community through flamboyant advertisements in the print and electronic media.

And from all reports the response to the “Carnival money call” has been greater than expected. Island Finance, for instance, a finance company with three branches in Trinidad, which beckoned customers to its doors with the print advertisement, “Get an easy Carnival loan and jump up,” were up to this week still processing applications. The company, however,  put a lid on such loans — $3000. Even so it was able to attract more than 200 applications, which at the end of the day could add up to more than $600,000. The National Entrepreneurship Development Company Ltd (NEDCO) a state entity, also got into the act, encouraging small, aspiring business persons to borrow money for the Carnival. NEDCO’s in-your-face print advertisement which has appeared since early January — “Get a Carnival Business Loan – make mas’ work for you” had generated a great deal of interest and applications.

There is also their “$5000 for 5 Loan” aimed at small entrepreneurs, no doubt including those for Carnival enterprise. Sandrine Rattan, Corporate Communications Manager at NEDCO told Business Day that applications had to be carefully screened though. “Applications are being screened very carefully, since loans granted were strictly for business enterprises,” she said. The ceiling on NEDCO’s loans was much higher than that at Island Finance —  $15,000. At the beginning of this week, loans totalling close to $500,000 had been approved, a sure sign that the Carnival business bait had been taken. Rattan said, “Most of them were for vending and entertainment, including the production of CDs and music.” She said a lot depended on whether the loan would generate employment.   

“To a large extent,” she said, “the underlying factor in granting some of these loans was the generation of employment at all levels as well as encouraging some entrepreneurship, which as you must understand is our mandate at NEDCO.” Credit Unions too, are also getting into the Carnival loans business. Since their philosophy is different from the normal lending institutions, the criteria for getting loans during Carnival are not as stringent. Members can apply for loans for a myriad of reasons, including “playing mas’.” One credit union, Credit Union Bank Employees Credit Union (BECU),  went one step further and actually advertised in the press a special Carnival loan. BECU encouraged its membership to borrow Carnival money through a simple colour advertisement, which stated – “Play Mas’ with a Prime Plus Loan.”

It added, “You too can jump up for Carnival with a low interest rate loan up to $5,000.” The advertisement did say however that special qualification criteria applied. Asked  how successful the campaign had been and approximately how much money had been lent  to its members, the response was in line with Blackie’s lyrics in his popular  calypso “Hook” : that is not your business. The BECU spokesman insisted that loans were a “private matter. “We don’t want to share that information,” he said. The larger commercial banks also want a piece of the Carnival pie; they make no bones about that. With interest rates falling and money flooding the system, the banks’ loan portfolio has tilted significantly. They are all trying to woo their customers through their doors.

For instance, RBTT’s “Suckeye” which has a ceiling limit of $30,000 is tailor-made for the season. When unsecured the interest rate is about 14 percent and if secured and depending on the amount, the interest rate varies. While no actual figures were forthcoming from any of the institutions, one banker admitted that Carnival loans were “into the millions of dollars.” He hastened to add however, that many of the loans granted during the period were not really to be used for costumes or partying or even for investing. Many locals, he said, take leave of the country for the Carnival season and they borrow money to pay for their trips and shopping.