Curiouser and Curiouser...
— 8 Jul 2019, 16:59 by Hugh Dennis
PR said not to blog too much. (Twice a year OK, Jo? :-) So, we think an entire blog post dedicated to administration. is what you all need.
Summary of what's been happening in 2019 so far:
It took a mighty 5 months to get the CIC formed. Long and boring story. I hope it's not that hard for everyone who wants to form a CIC. We were incorporated on 9th March 2019 and an application for a bank account with Coop bank went out the next day.
Here's what happened:
Coop Bank needed A LOT more information and are still considering our application, four months later.
RBS said we don't do businesses any more, try Nat West.
Nat West wanted a list of all our potential investors and their source of wealth before they would consider our application for a bank account.
Tide (online small business specialist) said we'd get an account in 10 minutes. Several weeks later they still couldn't understand our business model.
HSBC invited me in to tell me what a great thing we were doing and that they couldn't give us a bank account.
Handelsbanken. After a couple of false starts, we had a meeting and took advantage of their strapline "A bank that puts customer satisfaction first" by asking them to invest in Little Ships. They ceased further communications.
Lloyds Bank needed a couple of days to give us a bank account.
Thanks to Lloyds Bank, Little Ships Housing Community Interest Company officially started trading on 24th May 2019.
On the 5th June 2019 our first big investor steps up with a transformative start up investment. This pays for lawyers, accountants, graphic designers, website, social media, marketing, PR, printing, office (virtual, no staff yet), etc.
...and tonight our social media goes live.
We'll try and post a bit more often (sorry Jo). We'll soon be able to talk about the projects themselves.
ps. I met the red Queen BTW. Wasn't that bad. Of all people, it was a public sector housing person (to whom I'd been recommended for a bit of background info.) The first thing he said after I introduced myself was that he hoped I didn't pay myself an extortionate salary and that he was far too busy to talk.
