Small business makes big impact - BCNS Printers Limited excelling

Cedric Linton, owner of BCNS Printers on Norton Drive off Molynes Road in St Andrew, and Shawn Linton, senior lithographic clerk, review an output from the computer to plate machine (CTP) the company recently acquired with loan funding from JN Small Business Loans Limited.

Ask Cedric Linton how he started his business and he will tell you about this long relationship with the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) and the role that the society has played in his life and business at BCNS Printers Limited.

"I have been saving with Jamaica National since I was young. I bought my first house through the building society, so all my life I've been around JNBS, and they were there for us," Linton explains.

A former director and customer service manager at Speed O Graphic Printers Ltd with more than 25 years under his belt, he embarked on the mission that led to the establishment of BCNS.

He and his wife, Beverly, the company's administrative manager, remember well the early struggles of the fledgling print shop which they started in 1992 on Osbourne Road in St Andrew.

"It wasn't easy," she recalls. "There were other established printers against whom we had to compete, starting in a one-room operation that we rented." The business started also with three employees.

"We didn't have an accountant, therefore I had to do the accounting; but, first I had to learn how to do it,"she recalls. "Cedric did the purchasing, sales, and operated the machines. And we made our own deliveries."

The business grew as customers referred others based on the quality of work and some of the early customers have remained with BCNS since its inception, Mrs Linton maintains.

As work increased there was need for more space. The Lintons, therefore, built a more spacious print shop next to their home on Norton Drive, St Andrew, with a loan from JNBS. And, to keep themselves on the cutting edge, they retooled.

'A new moon'

"At first we bought second hand equipment, one machine at a time; but it was difficult to produce on almost obsolete machines," she pointed out. "Therefore, we ploughed back the company's profits into the business to purchase new equipment," she adds.

"We could not find a loan institution to meet our small business needs!" Mrs Linton exclaims. "At 20 per cent and 18 per cent interest rate, and the kind of collateral needed, it was difficult to meet those requirements," she underscores.

However, when the Lintons approached JN Small Business Loans Limited (JNSBL), a subsidiary of Jamaica National, for a loan, they were not disappointed.

"It was like a new moon," Mrs Linton declared.

Within three months of their application they received the funds.

The BizBoost loan was used to purchase a computer to plate equipment (CTP), which sped up production and improved the quality of their products. CTP is an imaging technology used in modern printeries. It sends images produced in desktop publishing directly to a printing plate.

Frank Whylie, general manager of JNSBL, says it was not difficult to support BCNS because of the determination of the owners and company's sound business plan.

"BCNS Printers had a track record for doing business," says Whylie, "and the company had a solid foundation on which they could build. We were, therefore, confident that a BizBoost loan would allow them to operate more efficiently and to expand their business."

The company offers digital printing and offset printing. They also specialize in labels, with corporate entities such as Berger Paints, Musson Jamaica Limited, Dairy Industries Limited and Courts Jamaica Limited on their client list. They also produce calendars, business cards, annual reports, school books, and desk pads.