BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — His crab net business ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, Billy Boy Arceneaux is on the way to recovery thanks to a business loan from HOPE Community Credit Union and ACCION USA.
The $44 million credit union helped to provide a $2,000 micro loan to Arceneaux Net Co.
A fourth-generation crab net maker who learned the trade from his father, Arceneaux can make over four dozen crab nets in one hour. He sells his nets in small stores throughout Hancock County, Miss. He lost everything he owned to Hurricane Katrina, but continued to make nets from his FEMA trailer. To fulfill his most recent business contract, however, he needed working capital.
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Arceneaux turned to HOPE and ACCION for a loan to buy additional webbing, wire and bags. ACCION is a private, nonprofit organization that provides loans and other financial services to low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs who are unable to access bank credit for their businesses. Arceneaux is one of the recipients of the Back to Business Loan Fund, which helps businesses in the Gulf region with loans from $2,000 to $25,000, with an 8% interest rate, terms from two to 60 months and three months of interest-only payments.
It is frequently the smallest, or "micro," business owner, often only a one man/woman operation, that has the fewest resources for rebuilding, according to HOPE and ACCION. More than a year after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf, small business owners are still in need of capital to re-open their doors or boost their businesses. "Without the partnership of ACCION USA and HOPE, Billy Boy would not have had the resources to take advantage of the opportunity that a contract with Wal-Mart affords," said Jolie Machado, program officer at HOPE/ Enterprise Corporation of the Delta. "The loan we made to Billy Boy is just one example of the need for affordable financial services as a means of helping coast residents recover. Microlending is one tool that allows us to reach a market that has tremendous potential for helping rebuild the area." Arceneaux said he received a $1 million contract from Wal-Mart to produce the crab nets. He, along with four employees, just completed 150 dozen nets, but he needs more capital to buy the bags to ship them to the retail giant. Right now, he's working on an even larger order since the local Wal-Mart has already sold out of the previous nets his company made. The Biloxi, Miss. native estimates he needs another $900 to help complete the order on which he is currently working. By March, the nets will be available at Wal-Mart stores nationwide, he said. "When I finish [that larger order], I'll be back on my feet," said Arceneaux from his FEMA trailer porch, where he does all of his work. His dream is to open a building in Bay St. Louis and employ 50 people.
It's been a tough year for Arceneaux, who lost his prosthetic leg in the mud and slush of Hurricane Katrina. He has since received a new one, but his FEMA trailer is not equipped for his wheelchair, which he relies on more these days due to the blisters that sometimes form on both legs. To get around, he says he sometimes crawls on the floor. But pity is not what he's looking for.
"I'm a man," he said. "I give 120% in anything I do." –[email protected]
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