An exciting new partnership at the Jim’s Group is giving aspiring business owners the opportunity to buy their first franchise.

Rocky Aloi, Jim’s Group chief operating officer, says the joint venture with ASX-listed finance platform and funder Butn is a first for the business and a major step towards helping ambitious would-be franchisees get into business. 

“We’ve been working for several months to find a business funding solution for our new prospects. The funding package means many of the potential franchisees who approach us but don’t have the full funds required to establish the business, can now step up into being their own boss,” Rocky says.

Sourcing business-to-business funding can be a challenge, he adds. “All the banks want to see 12-months’ trading before they will consider a loan. The lack of a trading history has been the biggest blocker for any financial institution offering a business loan.

“Eliminating trading history has been a major achievement, and it will significantly improve prospective franchisees’ chances of getting funding. We’ve managed to get rid of lots of red tape in the funding process.”

Rocky says Butn is a perfect fit, a company willing to take on the perceived risk of backing inexperienced franchisees because of Jim’s strong history and pay-for-work guarantee. 

Under the pay-for-work guarantee Jim’s pays new franchisees to provide free or discounted services to help get their business established. 

“The onus is on the franchisee to focus on their business to make it work,” Rocky says.

The Butn franchise funding package

Butn’s start-up business loan package will assist potential Jim’s Group franchisees seeking between $15,000 and $50,000. Three tiers of loans provide partial or full funding and loan approvals will be handled on a case-by-case basis. 

“We expect the most common loan will be when the potential business owner can only afford to pay for induction training,” says Rocky. “Butn will then bundle up a loan to purchase the territory, plant and equipment and associated loans, into a lump sum repayable over 18 months.

“We want the start-up loan to be short and sharp, to get more people into business.”

The loans will be offered at competitive rates, and the agreement is a direct transaction between the lender and the prospective franchisee.

Once franchisees have settled in their business, they can choose to refinance their start-up Butn loans into an alternative option.

Butn is providing more for the Jim’s Group than just the start-up loan package. It offers the Jim’s Financial Services division a whole range of products from business loans to car loans.

It was also a partner participating in the community-focused Jim’s Group Trade Show and Family Day at the Yarra Valley Cup which showcased the brands to aspiring business owners.

The group has more than 100 new franchisees joining every month, so more accessible business funding is a welcome addition.

This first-of-its-kind partnership will empower new Jim’s Group franchisees so they can start earning from day one without significant upfront capital investment.

“Jim’s funding franchisees will also address the sheer volume of unserviced work we have across our 50+ divisions,” says Rocky. “Getting growth in franchisee numbers is the challenge. We have 5,500 franchisees, we want to get to 10,000 and this will help us achieve it.”