ART borrower, Island Delight, caused a sensation at this year’s Community Development Finance Association (CDFA) Conference in Solihull with a specially-made giant Jamaican-style pattie for delegates to sample.
Island Delight was set up by Wade Lyn, who moved to England from Jamaica as a teenager and missed the authentic taste of home. “Patties are at the heart of traditional Caribbean cuisine and part of everyday life across the islands; from Jamaica to Antigua,” he explains. “When I came over to the UK I was surprised to find how difficult it was to buy a pattie – and a bag of chips just wasn’t the same! Later on I decided I wanted to help bring the vibrant Caribbean tastes and flavours I grew up with to the British market.”
Today, Island Delight makes over 100,000 patties a week and supplies many of the large supermarkets across the UK. Earlier this year the company took out a small business loan from ART to support growth plans.
The giant pattie made for the CDFA Conference bore the words ‘Forward Thinking’ to reflect not only Birmingham’s motto, but also the theme of the conference. “Delegates were surprised and delighted with this rather unusual fare and queued up to get a taste of it,” says Steve Walker, Chief Executive of ART. “We thought it would be a nice touch as the Conference was held in our area this year.”
ART had money to lend over the past year to small businesses in Birmingham and Solihull thanks in part to Unity Trust Bank, which is committed to supporting Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) like ART that lend when the banks can’t.
“Banks have a responsibility to help build strong, stable communities where business can thrive and people are secure in their jobs,” explains Managing Director of Unity Trust Bank, Richard Wilcox. “Unity is proud to have been a long-term supporter of the CDFI movement and the largest provider of wholesale funds to enterprise CDFIs like ART.”
To apply for a small business loan call ART on 0121 359 2444
To find out more about Cleone Foods and its Island Delight range see www.cleone.co.uk
To find out more about Unity Trusty Bank see www.unity.co.uk
To find out more about the CDFA see www.cdfa.org.uk
October 18, 2012 11:06 am