“Small businesses are the heartbeat of the Australian economy. Our new export loan facility makes it easier for them to compete globally.”
Queensland cruise operator Frankland Islands Cruises and New South Wales technology company Intersective are among the first Australian small businesses to benefit from export loan funding from Efic, Australia’s export finance agency.
Launched in April, the Small Business Export Loan gives small businesses access to finance through a convenient and fast online application and approval process.
SMEs with annual revenues between $250,000 and $5 million can access up to $250,000 to support an export contract.
Efic Managing Director and CEO Mr Andrew Hunter said: “We are delighted that Frankland Islands Cruises and Intersective are among the first Australian SMEs to take advantage of the Small Business Export Loan, the first of its kind for small exporters.”
“Moving the application online through our portal, EficDirect, has significantly reduced the cost and time companies need to get export finance. Small businesses are the heartbeat of the Australian economy. Our new loan facility makes it easier for them to compete globally,” he said.
Cruise operator caters to Japan
Frankland Islands Cruises is a family business that has been taking thousands of people on tour of the Great Barrier Reef since 1992.
A loan worth $190,000 from Efic has allowed Frankland Islands Cruises to purchase new equipment to meet an export contract with a Japanese company for chartered tours 80 days a year. This contract now accounts for 30% of the company’s revenue.
“A key challenge is that marine products are very hard to raise finance for across the board. Our bank was unable to help us meet the Japanese contract. They simply do not lend to marine and boat businesses and were not willing to consider it. We found out about Efic and made contact. From there the process was very easy,” said Mr Ron Cusick, Frankland Islands Cruises CEO.
“The online application process was very user friendly. The great thing is that we could pick the payment terms we needed, deciding how quickly we wanted to repay the loan,” said Cusick.
The exporter said Efic’s helpline provided immediate response and helped him handle the online application without continuing support. He said the experience was “very positive.”
“The Japanese market has been in decline for five years but this program that Efic helped fund has reversed that incredibly. The spinoff has been that a lot of other companies in the area have gained increased Japanese business as a result of the charter program,” said Cusick.
Experiential learning firm
Established in 2012, Intersective is a young company with a bold goal – to become the global leader in experiential education technology. Its software products and tools make collaboration between students, universities and employers more efficient and effective, helping drive better learning and project outcomes.
The loan has allowed Intersective to sign a long-term licensing agreement with a Vietnam-based university to provide experiential solutions for their students.
“Dealing with Efic was so much more straight forward than with a traditional bank or lender, including grant programs or invoice discounting – all of which we explored,” said Ms Suzy Watson, Intersective CFO.
“The whole application process, including the online process, was quick. From starting the application to getting the funds took less than seven days; and that included a couple of helpful calls from Efic where we might have needed just a little clarity on information required.”
Through the loan, Intersective scaled up its business faster than planned.
She added: “It enabled us to kick off that project quickly, hire ahead of the curve, and be able to tick off all of the legal and economic questions we had around dealing in a cross-border transaction quickly.”
Inside Small Business
