Video transcript: Financing a Popeye's franchise in St. Catharines
Anjum:
"My name is Anjum Aziz and I'm a franchisee for Popeyes in the city of St. Catherines, Brantford, Welland and I do own another franchise by the name of Baskin-Robbins ice cream.
When I came to St. Catherines and I started my detailing business, in the back of my mind, I thought that maybe people will not give me business because of my colour. But this city opened up their arms. And that gave me a lot of confidence. And my business started expanding. Within a couple of years, I had eight people working for me. And that kind of gave me satisfaction. Then I thought about Popeyes. Popeyes is another venture where I can create more jobs. Human respect is the most important thing. That's what I have learned. This is the reason today I have the same employees. When I started this business, I treated them like family.
My loan was approved by another financial institution. And when the store was almost ready, he just decided to cancel my loan. So when I went to Meridian, we got the loan approved in a week's time. That's how I fell in love with Meridian. Because of the way they backed me at that hard time. I'm grateful that they have faith in me. And I have come up to their expectations. Today, whatever I am, it's because of the people of St. Catherines and Meridian Credit Union.”
When Anjum Aziz, a business owner in St. Catharines, was about to open a new franchise the financial institution he’d been working with suddenly cancelled his loan. Meridian stepped up and provided financing within a week. Here’s his story.