Dionne Rose, Business Reporter

Yahneek Page has come up with the fresh idea for a business that offers financing to Jamaicans needing funds to pursue civil lawsuits.

Page, a risk-management professional, told Sunday Business that her newly formed company, Future Services International, aimed to "finance justice" by funding what her business decides are legitimate and meaningful civil lawsuits.

"We are focusing on those that are actionable, good lawsuits and we take an interest in the case," she told Sunday Business.

Pursue justice

"So, really, what we do is provide litigants for those who need our services with the financing and the necessary resources and information to pursue justice."

Future Services International is based in Linstead, St Catherine, and is open for business. The company had an official launch in Kingston two weeks ago.

Page said her venture was a small business with a young team of just five, all under 30 years old.

She said that the company would only take on cases seeking small damages, starting at a minimum of $100,000 and going up to $250,000.

Requirements

The cases would have to meet certain requirements before they were taken on.

"So, we don't retain attorneys on behalf of clients, and we don't have lawyers who work for us," said Page. "What we do is we have a very good risk model," she said.

"The attorneys who have been retained by the clients must provide us with the relevant information, on the authority of the client, and then we decide if the matter is worth taking on," she added.

Not yet 30, Page hopes that her business venture will take off.

She is projecting to open two more offices by year end, one in Kingston and the other in Montego Bay.

So far, the company has been able to attract clients, with the company already settling a matter within three weeks.

"A popular misconception is that all matters must go to court, but there are attorneys who are able to settle matters long before they get to court," Page said. "It happens every day. it is a matter of having the resources to retain that attorney and to put your file together."

Start-up financing

Page said that her business has got start-up financing from RBTT.

This is not her first business.

She started a beauty and spa company at age 17, but it did not do well. She is, however, convinced that she is more equipped to handle a commercial enterprise this time around.

"From that, I have learnt a lot of lessons. You have to go to school and at least learn the fundamentals. And here I am, trying again in a new venture," Page said.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com