The Tribune

• Plans summer approach with Prince Charles opening

• Crowd-funded firm eyeing first dividend payout in ‘25

• ‘Nowhere close to meeting need’ as waiting list 3,000

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMIAN footcare provider plans to tap its investors for further equity this summer as it pushes forward with further expansion following an initial roll-out that “surpassed expectations”.

Dr Daniel Johnson, the former Cabinet minister who is now FootCare RX’s principal, told Tribune Business it is targeting a September opening for its Prince Charles Drive clinic and payment of a first dividend to shareholders next year.

The venture, one of four to successfully hit their minimum crowd-funding capital raise via the ArawakX platform, was described as “in the black” and “ahead” of projections as Dr Johnson reaffirmed ambitions to open another five clinics over the next five years.

Speaking after last week’s Foot Fest 2024, staged by the Ministry of Health and Wellness in conjunction with Barry University, and in which Foot Rx and others participated, he told this newspaper that providers have “not come anywhere close to fulfilling the need” for foot treatments, surgeries and diabetes-related care as the “waiting list” remains 3,000-strong.

Confirming that the business has suffered no ill- effects from the ArawakX controversy, as its crowd- fund raise was completed well in advance of the platform’s insolvency-related collapse, Dr Johnson said: “Everything is going well. FootCare RX is a small, compact group and everything is in order. People call and ask how everything’s going. It’s [ArawakX] nothing to do with us.

“We’re up and running according to plan. Everybody who bought got their shares and their capital is safe in our group. We’ll just keeping pushing on.” Referring to Foot Fest 2024, and the volume of patients requiring a variety of foot and ankle treatments, Dr Johnson added: “We had an interesting week. We did an outreach this week.

“The need is overwhelming. We have not come anywhere close to fulfilling the need that exists. There’s a lot more work to do. We did 1,000 people this [last] week in terms of outreach, and we have a waiting list of 3,000 people. It’s just foot care and diabetes, and that’s just Nassau. The Family Islands, we didn’t get to them yet, but we will.”

Dr Johnson, explaining the evidence shows there is more than sufficient demand for FootCare Rx’s services, said: “It works. We’re in the black. We’re ahead [of target] and will probably pay our first dividend next year. I think we’re on schedule. We have surpassed expectations.

“At the end of this the patients will own their clinics. The idea behind it was for people to own their community clinics and stop this reliance on government. Communities can do this. It works. Our proof of concept was right.”

The FootCare Rx declined to provide any dollar figures and percent- ages on the company’s performance, joking that he will have “people running behind me” if he does, but voiced optimism that the company will continue expanding and is not relying on any new equity capital raise for this.

“I think we’ll grow to another.... I would see another five clinics in the next five years,” Dr John- son told Tribune Business. “We have Carmichael, we have the model and, in the summer, we’ll open Prince Charles Drive. Prince Charles, I give August. We’ll open for September.

“We’ll have a shareholder meeting in the summer. With the shareholders’ consent will raise money, but we have enough to go ahead.” Asked about the price, terms and conditions for any new capital raise, Dr Johnson indicated they would be little different from those presented to investors in the initial crowd-fund offering.

“It’ll be the same,” he said. “We’ll come back with a similar offering, similar share price. We won’t change anything. We’ll keep it the same. If it’s working I don’t think we’ll change it.” Investors spent some $190,346 on 24,064 FootCare Rx shares during the initial crowd-fund offering, ArawakX’s provisional liquidators have informed the Supreme Court.

However, it is among three of the four issuers who have yet to receive their share registers, accord- ing to Ed Rahming, the Intelisys (Bahamas) principal, and Cheryl Simms, the Kikivarakis and Company accountant, in their February 22, 2024, report .

“There are discrepancies with the share registers - investors are missing on the registers, etc,” the provisional liquidators alleged. “We found irregularities with the four completed issuer raises.

“Investors have not received their share certificates, and the issuers were assessed additional fees by the company [ArawakX] not shown in their listing agreement. We have started a verification/reconciliation process for one issuer to ensure completeness of its share register and will undertake a similar exercise for the remaining issuers.

“Upon completion of this exercise, we will provide the updated share registers to the Bahamas Central Securities Depository to act as the registrar and transfer agent for the issuers.”

FootCare Rx, in its initial crowd-fund pitch to investors, said it planned to offer affordable treatments for “foot disorders” that typically go unattended due to high healthcare costs. Its model was designed to give patients a way to access preventative care via examinations and maintaining good foot health.

Its products were intended to reduce diabetic food surgeries and amputations in The Bahamas, and wider Caribbean by up to 50 percent. “Many diabetic foot amputations could easily be avoidable if patients simply have regular checks by a health practitioner before complications occur,” it added. “High risk individuals with chronic dis orders such as arthritis, and vascular problems are also an underserved market.”

FootCare Rx believes there are 600,000 diabetic patients in the English speaking Caribbean, and it is aiming to service 65,000 or 11 percent of that market. It planned to expand via a franchise model, where it will receive a 20 percent royalty from clinic franchisees on two revenue streams - the examination fee and sale of FootCare Rx branded medical supplies.

Given that both were estimated to cost and aver age $50, FootCare Rx was to earn $20 from each patient visit.