W&F Issue 8 2018
www.wealthandfinance-news.com 22 Wealth & Finance International - Issue 8 - 2018 With over twenty years in asset finance and leasing experience, Rev. Dr. K. Bill Dost. Group CEO of the D&D Leasing group of companies has an extensive understanding of funding small ticket transactions. Starting D&D leasing in Canada and expanding it to the United Kingdom, has given both D&D Leasing and Dost a unique perspective on the marketplace and where to focus the energies of the company itself. To that end D&D leasing has found itself focusing on small ticket transactions, those generally seen to range between £1000 GBP and £250,000 GBP for a niche class of customer. These customers, often classified as near prime/subprime or difficult to bank, are the class of customer D&D Leasing encounters every day. The corner shop, the owner-operator, the small business, the start-up operation. Not quite ready to be banked and yet still in need of financing; whether it’s a computer, a set of desks, manufacturing equipment or even loans, D&D Leasing is there to help support these often, but not necessarily, early start operations. Dost recognised the need for financing those operations that couldn’t seek bank assistance, due either to past poor credit performance or no credit history in his native Canada when he started the original operation back in 2000. Prior to incepting D&D Leasing, he noted that “the prime or blue-chip customer really had no trouble finding finance, however, if you had bruised credit it would be a very difficult road to seek out finance, most companies would turn you away, or require egregious down payment schedules from you. “We simply wanted to be different, we wanted to provide finance to anyone who could prove they had a shot at making it, but just needed a hand up, so we set out to do so,” Dost comments. The key to the business is to ensure a stable rate of return for investors and the company as a whole, while still ensuring a solid understanding of the exit strategy on the asset being lent against, and a sufficient down payment to make up the difference. And most importantly, being willing to take a risk to lend into what is almost always an unfavourable market. “While the term Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) has become popular in the last decade, the true definition of SME, those business classes which reside in the subprime and near prime categories, still remain on the outer fringes of finance society and we feel it’s our mission to ensure we can provide them with ample finance to attain their dreams and success in this, and any market place”, says Dost. That core customer, is seen everywhere today in business, and all too often they receive very little help from banking society due to their turn over (under £1,000,000) their size, (less than ten seats in the office) or their industry, (often seen as less desire by the banks). To that end, D&D Leasing mainly focuses on those particular areas to ensure that these customer segments are well served. Today, D&D Leasing is established in markets in Canada, the United Kingdom and is planning an opening in the United States. While their original market of business to business clients has expanded to include consumer vehicles and commercial loans as well, they are still at their core a subprime and near prime lender, who are just as comfortable providing £2500 GBP finance for a computer as a £100,000 GBP finance for a tractor trailer. The real key to who they want to service is that small business and entrepreneurial sector. In fact, if you take a scan of their website it clearly states their mission statement: Changing the lives of one million entrepreneurs. At the heart of it Dost says it best, “help the entrepreneurs succeed, and they spur the economy to grow. Recognition like this, only helps that happen. Recently, D&D Leasing has partnered with ME to WE, itself an organisation founded in Canada that has global reach. ME to WE, made famous because of their WE DAY event held in Canada, the USA and the UK, is a corporate brand and social initiative whose goal is to procure large scale funding for humanitarian operations around the world. As of 2018, D&D Leasing has partnered with ME to WE by providing £1.00 per contract per month for humanitarian aid. It is their hope that as D&D Leasing grows that this initiative will continue to flourish and that lives will be impacted and changed on a global scale. D&D Leasing is a multinational leasing and financing provider. Following their recent success in Wealth & Finance’s Finest in Finance 2018 where they were awarded the accolade Recognised Leaders in SME Equipment Loans - United Kingdom, we profiled the firm and spoke to President and Founder, Rev. Dr. K. Bill Dost who revealed more about the firm’s innovative ways. Helping Businesses Grow 1808WF01 Company: D&D Leasing UK Address: Studio LU. 404 The Light Bulb, 1 Filament Walk London, SW18 4GQ, UK Telephone: +44 (0)20 3769 6518 Web Address: www.danddleasing.com F INANCE N Dost himself believes it isn’t enough to simply partner with other organisations, to that end he believes that change starts at home. He sits on industry boards both in Canada and the United Kingdom, holds annual charitable events to raise funds for often unknown and underserved local charities and has been awarded accolades such as Philanthropist of the Year by his own industry.
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