Bluestart Capital, trading as Courts Ready Cash, is formally entering Jamaica’s microfinance space after working with the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) for almost 19 months to ensure it meets all stipulations and complies with the Microcredit Act 2021.

Courts, Jamaica’s biggest appliance and furniture retailer, is part of the Unicomer Group. Through its Ready Cash brand, it has provided loans for customers to purchase its goods for over ten years now and this business arm is now formalised and desegregated from its primary operations.

Speaking at the launch ceremony earlier today, chairman of Bluestart Capital, Edwin Vaquerano said: “This licence has put us in the industry as one of the players who are being regulated by the Central Bank of Jamaica. Today is a celebration of diligent work and is important from our customers’ perspective 

“They will ask why are we doing this?

“We are doing this because everybody is talking about financial inclusion and our customer’s habits are changing. Everybody is talking about convivence and how easy it is to get financial products with everything being one or two taps away. Courts Ready Cash and Bluestart Capital is a company all about financial inclusion and giving opportunities to Jamaicans. This is something we have been doing for many years with our hire purchase offerings.”

Courts has garnered a reputation for its microfinancing operations and many Jamaicans purchase their furniture and appliances this way. It will now go forward as a licenced microfinance creditor meeting all the requirements.

Courts Ready Cash started out with eight stores in Courts locations and then went on to establish 9 stand-alone stores. Today it has 47 locations across Jamaica. It is the only micro-financing operation to have such extensive coverage across the country. It will also target small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Accessing loans has been made easy by Courts Ready Cash with no need for guarantors, no collateral and an approval time of just 24 hours. Courts Ready Cash will offer both personal and business loans. It will also offer business planning, business strategy, documentation, and money management services.

Speaking at today’s ceremony Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson made note that microcredit is probably one of the fastest growing and most dynamic sectors in Jamaica. He pointed out that MPs up and down Jamaica are aware that many of their constituents can only depend on the micro-credit sector to access funding whether it be for personal or business loans.

He continued: “I’m very happy that Courts has embraced this sector and is fully compliant with the Microcredit Act. The reason why this is important is because we know that the people who come to micro-credit agencies tend to be the most vulnerable and are prone to be exploited.

“Bluestart Capital is providing a service and is doing so within the confines of the Act and is doing so where it is regulated and can be monitored. I want to encourage you to expand and grow your business. There are too many Jamaicans who cannot access the formal banking system. They can’t get a loan because they don’t have a history and their income is informal.”

The Minister of Finance Dr. Nigel Clarke was the special guest speaker, informing his audience that under the Microcredit Act 2021, it required microcredit activities to be segregated and separated from other activities.  There can be no co-mingling because the Bank of Jamaica does not know anything about sofas and flat-screen TVs or anything like that. 

 He explained: “Courts has been around for over 60 years and that could have come as a major inconvenience because here they are doing their business for a long period of time, now here comes regulation and calls for you to be licenced.

“For some thirty years, we saw a sector grow and become totally unregulated and unfortunately this saw practices that were not conducive to the wholesome development of Jamaica. Quite apart from the developmental objectives, in order for Jamaica to comply with our international obligations( as far as money laundering was concerned), it was necessary to bring the sector under regulation.

“Courts could have thrown its hands up in the air and said “we can’t deal with these regulations” but it did not take that route. In fact, throughout the process, the company was extremely cooperative and compliant. It is for that reason I am especially pleased and proud of the fact that Bluestart Capital is duly licenced and regulated and one of the first  (I believe there are 13 now ) to do so in the micro-credit space. We need to commend them for the leadership and the example they have shown.”