• By backing small businesses, people support the local economy.
• At the start of the pandemic, the BT Mic team got in touch with each of BT Mic’s more than 11,000 customers to find recovery solutions where needed.
• BT Mic continued to grant new loans throughout the year to support small businesses.  

BT Mic is launching the Buy from a Small Business initiative to encourage as many people as possible to choose to buy from start‑ups and small, family‑run businesses. A bakery, an organic products shop, a coffee shop, a photo studio, a web design studio — small businesses with original products and services.

BT Mic Blog, also launched today, features the stories of Romanian entrepreneurs with small businesses who talk about beginnings, ideas, challenges, passion and reinvention. These can inspire people with an entrepreneurial spirit as well as future customers. It’s easy to buy from them, because each article puts their website, social media profile or company address within easy reach.

Buy from a Small Business is, first and foremost, a call for solidarity — a movement to support small businesses at all times, and especially now. They pay taxes and create local jobs. 

“Small businesses offer real lessons in entrepreneurship and in life, because they teach valuable things: autonomy, resilience, optimism, not giving up and looking for solutions. This is where all big businesses start. The initiative aims to make us think differently when we want to buy something: where do I buy from, what options do I have, what impact does buying from a certain place have for that shop, for that business? Any decision to buy from a small business generates significant added value in its development. And right now it is needed more than ever.” –  Cristina Sindile, CEO, BT Mic. 

BT Mic, alongside customers from day one of the state of emergency

Since the start of the pandemic, BT Mic has supported small companies by deferring loan repayments and through continuous dialogue. Small entrepreneurs have needed, and still need, liquidity, solutions and turnaround advice to keep their businesses open. The BT Mic team called all of the more than 11,000 customers at the beginning of the crisis, and that open dialogue has continued ever since. 

“Constant dialogue with customers is part of BT Mic’s organisational culture. But the pandemic pushed us to intensify these discussions so we could better understand the impact of the current economic context on them, what reorganising the business model would entail, and how we can adapt the financing. That’s how we best understood the implications, the risks and the solutions. Lending is an act of responsibility — for us and for them” – adds Cristina Sindile.  

For 3,000 micro‑companies that work with BT Mic, loan repayments were deferred. Each deferral was discussed and agreed with customers, who understood what it entails, and the period was their choice. Many opted for a shorter period than legally allowed, and as of today 1,000 of them have already exited the repayment suspension period. 

Also, despite the situation caused by the pandemic, BT Mic continued to provide new financing without limiting customer access: it kept maximum maturities, flexible amounts and collateral requirements, and quick responses — a maximum of 4 days for loan applications. 

The story of BT Mic, a start‑up within the Banca Transilvania Financial Group, founded 3 years ago, can be found on the BT Blog.