Now his own boss. Carl Jones bought out his employer and now claims to be the biggest taxi firm in the West Wight.
WIGHT LIVINGIT was ten years ago this year the idea for an Island lottery to help businesses was first devised.
Since then, there has been plenty to celebrate for residents who scoop the weekly jackpot but the real winners have been the dozens of businesses loaned cash by the scheme.
In its first decade, the lottery has loaned £1.8 million in total to businesses across the Island, from taxi firms to glass sculptors.
The result has been the creation of many new businesses, the expansion of others, the creation of new jobs and saving some from redundancy.
The lottery, run by the IW Chamber of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, was inspired by a similar idea run in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Working with the IW Partnership, which became the IW Economic Partnership, months of research were carried out into how the Island could have its own version.
"There was a lot of preparation. We needed to work out how long it would take to break even and when we could do the first draw.
"During that first year after the concept was devised, we looked at how many people we would need to sign up to make sure there was enough money.
"We calculated that we needed to get around 2,000 people to take part — now we have 5,000," said Carol Jewett, finance and personnel officer at the chamber.
It was a year before the first draw was held and another 12 months before the first lottery loan was handed out.
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| Dino Karabasic has two successful cafe businesses in Newport and East Cowes, Island Images and Seabreeze Cafe, both helped by IW Lottery loans. |
In 2002, Dino Karabasic became one of the first to take advantage of the opportunity and seven years later he is still grateful for the boost it gave him.
He used a £5,000 loan to refurbish his new business, the Seabreeze Cafe, East Cowes, leading to the creation of several jobs.
Having repaid that loan, he obtained another in 2007, when he bought Newport cafe Island Images.
The two businesses now employ 12 people.
"The lottery had only just started and I had not heard about it, until BusinessLink told me.
"I had to prepare a business plan, which they helped me with, and then give a presentation to a panel. It was like being on Dragons’ Den.
"When I went back in 2007 they had more experience and so did I."
The lottery has come to the aid of almost 60 businesses since it started.
Among the more unusual entrepreneurs to benefit was Jason Heap.
The 24-year-old furniture-maker had already made headlines for his award-winning furniture but when he wanted to turn his skills into a full-time business, he needed help.
"I think it was my mum who told me about the loans. I had been running the business and I did have some money and investment already.
"But the money from the lottery meant that I could invest in some new tools that helped speed up some of the production and allow me to concentrate on other parts of the business.
"It is an interest free-loan, which has been fantastic, and they gave me some very helpful advice," said Jason, who last year scooped a highly acclaimed judge’s prize at the Homes and Gardens Classic Design Awards.
When Carl Jones’s boss was due to retire and sell his taxi business, Carl faced redundancy.
"The only other person interested in taking on the business lived on the other side of the Island and I would not have been able to carried on working if it had moved," said Carl.
But after hearing about the IW Lottery from his bank, Carl was not only able to save his own job but he went on to buy the company and employ two more people.
"I went to see the bank manager with my wife and he mentioned the lottery to us. I hadn’t really heard about the lottery, apart from people winning it — I wondered if he was advising me to just buy a ticket.
"We borrowed £10,000 and invested £10,000 to buy the business and now we are the biggest taxi firm in the West Wight," said Carl, who is about to recruit a third driver.