How EFSI benefits SMEs in Europe - KfW Bankengruppe case study: Küstenoptik (Germany), Optical store

Jürgen “Jimmy” Imholt was still a child when his father took him for the first time to the north coast of Germany to explore the Baltic Sea – an experience that stayed with him over the years. Jürgen and his family visited every summer and after graduation from technical college, he moved there and started to work.

As a qualified optician, Jürgen was lucky enough to be hired straight after technical college in an optician shop where he stayed for a few years, quickly climbing the career ladder to store manager in the first year and getting his nickname “Jimmy”. Having loyally stayed by his boss’ side for years, Jimmy finally changed, became store manager at his boss’ second store, introduced changes to the way the company was working and fortunately appeared to be best-placed to take over the optician store when his boss decided to withdraw.

But to be financially able to make such a commitment, Jimmy knew that he would have to secure a loan. It took him ultimately over two months to finish his loan application, conducting extensive research and cross-checking his business plan’s feasibility, but the hard work paid off.

After a close look at his application, the first bank Jimmy went to accepted his request: “I was so happy to be able to purchase my boss’ shop. I could have asked my wife´s family for further help but I did not want to. I wanted to prove myself that I could do my own thing.”

Jimmy secured an EU-guaranteed loan provided through the German KfW Banking Group and backed by EIF. This loan was made possible by the Investment Plan for Europe, which aims to generate new investments by facilitating access to finance for small businesses.

Today, Jimmy’s shop has been making steady progress and he is looking to the future with more confidence than ever.

Company: Küstenoptik (Germany)

Type of business: Optical store

EIF financing: COSME LGF, EFSI

For further information about EIF intermediaries in Germany, please refer to: http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/de