Hip Hop billionaire, Kanye West, received over $2 million in government relief programmes for America’s small businesses through his Yeezy LLC sneaker company.
Details of the 4.9 million loans through the Paycheck Protection Program were released by the Small Business Administration. The loan would allow the Yeezy Company to retain as much as 106 jobs, assuming the company decides to spend most of the loans on payroll. Note that the Paycheck Protection Program loans are forgivable.
Kanye’s Yeezy sneaker business was valued at $3 billion last year. The Yeezy sneakers are manufactured and sold through licensing agreements with Adidas. The brand recently announced a ten-year agreement with Gap Inc, a development that caused Gap’s shares rise over 30% in one day.
The Paycheck Protection Program was created alongside the $2.2 trillion CARES Act signed by President Donald Trump to support American businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was recently extended for another 5 weeks.
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Other celebrity fashion brands that received loans of over $2 million include Vera Wang and Oscar de la Renta.
Meanwhile, over here in Nigeria, many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and households have been struggling to access the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) stimulus package that was announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
As Nairametrics reported, Nigeria’s apex ban introduced the N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) as a stimulus to support households and small businesses that were affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. However, Nairametrics understands that many people have not been able to access these loans despite making concerted efforts.
