Being a JN Small Business Loan (JNBSL) beneficiary can sig-nificantly improve your standard of living, a study by the Tropical Medicine Research Institute at the University of the West Indies, Mona, has concluded.

The research team, led by Professor Terrence Forrester, director of the institute, found that small business loan beneficiaries were better off economically than others in their community who were not loan recipients.

JN Small Business Loan borrowers are able to spend more per annum and more of them own a home.

"They had significantly more durable goods, including washing machines, stereo equipment and computers than their matched community controls," the researchers said in the study. In addition, "They were better off economically and spent more money educating their children."

The study, conducted and completed towards the end of 2008, used a sample of 757 adults who received a JN BizGrow Loan two years or more prior to the survey. They all had children aged six to 16 years.

The sample was chosen randomly from the parishes of Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine. Each borrower was matched with 757 other non-beneficiaries of a similar age and sex who lived in the same communities as the beneficiaries. The total population that was surveyed was, therefore, 1,514 persons.

"We undertook to facilitate the study to determine the level of impact; and if there was a tipping point in the change of lifestyle and socialisation of our clients who had access to resources to make life better for themselves and their families," Frank Whylie, general manager of JNBSL, pointed out.

Most of the entrepreneurs who participated in the survey were from St Catherine, which represented 975 of the total sample. Some 383 participants were from St Andrew and 84 from Kingston. The remaining 61 did not participate. The majority of respondents were women, who had an average age of 41 years.

Improvement for borrowers

Among the observations cited by the researchers was that sons of JN Small Business Loan recipients, were less likely to stop attending school because of money problems or due to a lack of interest in learning.

In addition, JN Small Business Loans beneficiaries were also less likely to report money problems as a reason for not purchasing their children's required textbooks than non-loan recipients, although there was no significant difference between the two groups in relation to the required text books their children had, the researchers said.

Recipients of loans also spent more on their children's education than non-recipients, spending on average 7.5 per cent more on their children's schooling. Generally, JNSBL borrowers spent 49 per cent more money on consumption goods than non-beneficiaries annually.

They also owned more household items such as refrigerators and stoves, air conditioning units, fans and stereo equipment while 4.3 per cent more loan receivers owned their homes than non-recipients. These are assets that borrowers can use as collateral when making an application for credit, should they need another loan.

In its nine-year existence, JNSBL has disbursed some 36,476 loans that have assisted many small business operators to realise their dreams of owning a business and improving their lives. Since its establishment, the company has helped to create in excess of 4,000 jobs in the micro-business sector and maintain a further 18,000.