Interview with John Kavyavu: How Life Asset Helps Small Businesses with Big Challenges

Life Asset helps entrepreneurs obtain loans, learn business essentials, and make connections. Here’s what to know about the ways it can help your budding company.

Key takeaways:

• Life Asset offers small loans, but borrowers don’t need good credit scores or collateral. 
• Instead, borrowers form a group and keep each other accountable.
• Life Asset uses social collateral and helps business owners learn how to run a company.
• Entrepreneurs make connections and build networks through Life Asset. 

This blog post presents an overview of a recent interview with John Kavyavu, Life Asset’s Director of Small Business Lending & Training, about some of his favorite interactions with customers. He also explains how the firm provides entrepreneurs with access to working capital, helps them make networking connections, and teaches them how to more effectively run their businesses. 

Many business owners think Life Asset is too good to be true when they hear about it for the first time. But, once they start working with the organization, they quickly realize how invaluable its programs are. Keep reading to hear about how we help small business owners in greater Washington, D.C. 

Favorite customer interactions

John’s favorite interactions with customers are those in which they share the impact Life Asset has had on their businesses. 

• One is an Uber driver whose vehicle didn’t meet the rideshare giant’s criteria, so he was renting one from the company for $250 a week. That works out to just over $1,000 a month. The customer contacted us. He was able to build trust with the organization and obtain a loan for $3,000. He used it as a down payment on a vehicle, and his monthly payments were significantly less than what he’d been paying to rent from Uber. This instantly increased profits. 
• Another owns a bakery in D.C. and has been working with us for over three years. He recently landed a contract to supply baked goods to Whole Foods, but needed extra capital to ramp up production and accommodate the order. We were able to lend him $10,000, and he was able to expand his business. Without the cash, he may have had to turn down that order. 

Life Asset regularly speaks with their customers on the phone to get reports of how things are going. They also do in-person visits to touch base on their progress. The team works hard to establish personal connections with each of their customers because they’re truly invested in their success. 

Types of businesses that work with Life Asset

We work with any small business. This includes people who own brick-and-mortar stores as well as those in the gig economy. They also work with daycares, delivery drivers, and consultants. As long as you’re generating income through a legal activity, we can work with you. 

Problems faced by entrepreneurs who work with Life Asset

The entrepreneurs who work with us typically face three main challenges:

1. Difficulty qualifying for business loans

Most traditional financial institutions only approve business loans to people with perfect credit scores, collateral, and three to five years of business financial statements. Many of our customers only need a small amount of money, but traditional banks typically don’t offer loans of $5,000 or less. That’s because the cost of processing those loans tends to be more than the bank would earn in interest.

This is where we come in, offering loans from $1,500 to $10,000. The team works with entrepreneurs with less-than-perfect credit – or none at all – and doesn’t require collateral.   

2. The need for operational assistance

Our customers have a lot of passion for their businesses, but that alone is not enough to succeed. You need a variety of skills, and you have to do everything yourself when you’re launching a small business. You handle the accounting, marketing, sales, and more. You’re basically the chief everything officer. We work with customers to develop necessary skills so they can be ready to compete more effectively in the marketplace. 

3. A lack of business connections

Business owners need connections to ensure that people know about their great product or service. We provide our customers with networking opportunities so entrepreneurs share their contacts and learn from each other’s experiences. They develop networks, support each other, promote each other’s businesses, and form partnerships. 

The Life Asset team works closely with them to address those three major concerns. They provide them with access to capital, operational assistance, and networking opportunities. 

What people should know about Life Asset

Many people think Life Asset is too good to be true, or that it’s a multilevel marketing opportunity or recruiter. They’re shocked to learn they can get a loan without collateral or high credit scores. 

Here’s how it works: 

• We use the Grameen Bank model, relying on social instead of traditional collateral. 
• New customers find two to four other customers and form a support group. 
• The group’s members then keep each other accountable. 
• If one doesn’t make a payment on their loan, the others in the group can’t take out new loans. 
• As a result, they all work together to help each other stay on track. 

 Life Asset is a one-stop-shop for everything entrepreneurs need to get their businesses going. After a few years, they’re ready to go into the world and seek capital from financial institutions. They’ve built up their personal credit scores and established business credit scores, plus learned how to create financial statements and run their companies professionally. They’ve also made connections with other entrepreneurs that will last a lifetime. 

To learn more about how Life Asset can help you, contact us today. We’re here to assist so you can meet the challenges of running a small business.