The Good Roll grows thanks to bonds

When Melle Schellekens and Sander de Klerk learned that a third of the world's population has no access to safe and clean toilets, they founded The Good Roll in 2017. Their mission: safe and clean toilets for everyone. The company sells toilet paper made from recycled bamboo and invests 50 per cent of its net profits in building toilets in Ghana. Meanwhile, The Good Roll has 20 employees.

The goal: their own factory

The Good Roll has been around for about seven years now and is growing fast: sales are increasing by about 40 per cent a year. By 2023, they were making 5.5 million euros in annual turnover. By the end of 2026, the toilet brand wants to turn 60 million euros in turnover. How they plan to achieve that? By building their own factory in the next few years in the country where the raw materials of their toilet paper come from: Ghana.

Different forms of financing

Big ambitions call for big money. In recent years, The Good Roll has already deployed various forms of financing. Think subsidy schemes through RVO and various types of investments and shares to fans. That turned out not to be enough. "We are growing fast, but to achieve more, such as building our own factory, we need more money", says de Klerk.

Opting for bonds

"A bank loan was hard to get", de Klerk continues. "In recent years, many startups and scale-ups that grew fast in the early years have collapsed. As a result, banks are now less likely to give loans." That is why The Good Roll opted for bonds.

Bonds and shares: the difference

What exactly are bonds and how do they differ from shares? You can think of bonds as a kind of loan. Instead of selling part of your company, as with shares, you ask people to lend you money. In return, you promise to pay them a fixed interest rate and return the borrowed amount after an agreed time.

At The Good Roll, for example, supporters or customers can lend money to the company by buying bonds. These lenders are not given any influence over the company. However, they do know exactly what they will get in interest and when they will get their money back.

When you issue shares, you give away a piece of your company. The shareholder then gets a vote in decisions and a share of the profits. Issuing bonds does mean you have to go public first. For The Good Roll, bonds were a good choice because the costs are predictable. This also helps them get a loan from the bank more easily. This is because banks see bonds as equity, which means you are more likely to borrow extra money. The more equity you have, the more likely a bank will give you another loan.

Challenges with bonds

When you issue bonds, you are obliged to repay the borrowed money by a specific date. If you don't do this, applying for a loan in the future may become more difficult. To raise money with bonds, you first need to get a lot of people excited about your plans. This takes time and effort. Fortunately, The Good Roll already had many loyal customers, so they were able to convince many people in a short time. In just 4 weeks, the company had already raised more than half the amount they needed.

Getting started with funding

Thanks to the bonds, The Good Roll can get started with its own factory, further invest in their business and prepare for big growth in the coming years. Are you also looking for funding to grow your business? Find out which type of alternative financing suits you.  

No idea which type is right for you? Try talking to: 

• a KVK Financing Desk adviser
• RVO about subsidies
• Qredits about microcredits and applying for bank loans