Maylin Remo Natan, an entrepreneur with a longtime passion for logistics, is contented in running Trucklane Corporation, a company engaged in freight forwarding, customs brokerage, trucking, and rigging.
Every start of the year, her company already has the entire year mapped out. She also meets her executives and operations managers, and does not forget her bank relationship manager, who acts as one of her financial advisers.
Maylin relies on her BDO relationship manager to help take care of her cash and finances. By the time she meets with him, the latter has already read her company's financial report. As a result, they can plan what the company's finances for the year--including possible investments.
"The advice of the bank relationship manager is valuable to me because one, I get to maximize the products and services the bank has that could help me manage the company's funds. And two, I get expert guidance on investments and how much risk the company can afford to expose itself to," she said.
Trucklane was one of the few companies that didn't suffer as much during the worst months of the lockdown. According to Maylin, this was because she followed her bank relationship manager’s advice to allot a portion of the company's net income every month to a buffer fund of readily accessible cash.
"It was one of my best decisions to listen to that advice from BDO. When the pandemic and the lockdown happened, so many companies were strapped for cash because they could not collect for up to three months. But because we followed our bank’s advice, we had enough cash to pay our employees' salaries. We were also able to meet our financial obligations and payables. In short, our business did not get too disrupted because we had enough liquidity," she explained.
Helpful partner
She said BDO also helped her company secure a major customer with the right loan. Trucklane was in talks to get a distribution deal for a big bread and pastries company—one that is famous for its soft and fluffy mamon. Maylin wanted her company to become the product’s distributor but there was an obstacle: the fleet requirement was big. They needed seven new trucks to augment their fleet to secure the deal.
"We requested my bank to extend us a loan to get the seven new trucks ASAP. Another bank might have balked at our request because of the timeline but BDO came through for us. They approved the loan, and got the new trucks and the distribution deal."
Maylin says that her bank’s edge over others is in fulfilling a customer's needs in trying circumstances. She cites instances during the pandemic when she needed help with paperwork and documentation in order to pick up cargo from the international port.
"Everything we do in logistics depends on following schedules exactly. Expectations are high. If we're late, we lose our clients' trust, and we lose our business. This is why we need to partner with a bank that shares our sense of urgency," she said.
Even as Maylin contemplates retirement in a few years, she still has her bank by her side. "I'm setting up my retirement home which is really also a business that I'd like to run in my golden years. It's a farm resort. I purchased the property and will be building my home there using a bank loan. I want to enjoy the fruits of my labors."
BDO provides businesses, from large corporations to MSMEs, packages of products and services that meet their needs. For more information on how BDO can help keep your business running in good or bad times, visit www.bdo.com.ph/personal/StoriesofFindingWays_MaylinRemoNatan and www.bdo.com.ph/keepbusinessmoving.