Banks need to think small, not big

RECENTLY, my brother decided he’d start up his own business.

Crazy right?

He wanted to do something different so, since he’s a block layer, he wondered is it possible to put a design onto the blocks? This crazy idea came alive and hence Stone Effect was born.

We all praised him and said he was great because, according to him, ‘it is the only business that puts designs on blocks’. So, if this original idea was so new and amazing, why can’t he get finance to help him? Well, nobody knows.

In my opinion, banks just don’t trust start-up businesses. I mean, let’s face it, if you lent (insert property developer name) billions upon billions and they now are ‘bust’ and can’t pay you back, would you lend some randomer more money? Probably not.

But should my brother and other aspiring entrepreneurs suffer because of other sneaky tycoons? Eh no. I mean, was it my brother’s fault that Quinn went bankrupt? Was it his fault the country lent too much and just collapsed? We, as a nation, are not going to get blown away in this recession by turning down an opportunity for jobs, taxes being paid, young people staying at home, because they’ve a job.

As I’m writing this, I can hear some bank executive going ‘well, we have no money’. Well, mate, there’s enough money to pay your wages so for the sake of the country, take a pay cut, suck it up, cry a river, build a bridge, get over it, and give some new entrepreneurs money to develop a business. You never know, some good might come out of it.

I mean, the only way we can hurry up and move on past this recession is if more people are working and less dependent on the dole.

In fairness, Google cannot take on any more people, Facebook can’t either. We’re just depending way too much on the big dogs to continuously invest more and more money.

Google and Facebook someday aren’t exactly going to continue this forever: in the end, they’ll want their money back.

Also, it’s very easy for them to just up and leave. Just look at Dell in Limerick.

I’m just begging the big bad banks, please look at the wastage of money for CEOs and chief executives. You could easily give 10% of that to an entrepreneur who just needs one big break. One break, it might be the best decision ever. Ireland could have the next Apple for all we know.

So dear banks, start trusting the little guy instead of the big guy, you might get a surprise.