Crèche receives loans to expand

A CASTLEBRIDGE crèche has raised €34,000 in peer-to-peer loans to extend its capacity.

Michele’s crèche in the heart of the village secured a loan of €34,000 from Linked Finance, Ireland’s leading peer-to-peer (P2P) lending company.

To date, over €2,290,000 has been raised through Linked Finance’s online lending platform to facilitate business growth for 64 businesses in Wexford.

Established in 2008 by Michele Keogh and her husband Michael, the crèche boasts a team of ten full and part-time staff.

Demand for the spaces in the crèche is extremely high, and each year the crèche’s enrolment list is filled. Children from 4 months old to right through primary school are enrolled in the crèche in pre-school and after-school programmes.

Michele and Michael used the Linked Finance raise funds to increase the crèche’s capacity, specifically through the expansion of their after school programme.

The €34,000 loan was fully funded by 133 individual lenders in less than two days, allowing Michele and Michael to take advantage of business momentum by kick starting their expansion plans to offer increased spaces for the next term.

Michele said: ‘We came to Linked Finance as their turnaround in approval is far quicker than any bank. We wanted to start work on expanding our business as quickly as possible, so we could take full advantage of the demand for our service. Our application was processed very quickly, and because the loan funded in such a short amount of time, the funds were in our account within a matter of days.’

Linked Finance is a viable alternative to borrowing from the banks, where people with savings can connect and lend to trustworthy businesses that wish to borrow.