Frequently Asked Questions

Kindly take a moment to review this section before submitting any projects. We follow our lender's guidelines and processes to ensure compliance. Our lenders guide our processes and protocols. These processes are non-negotiable. We request that you only proceed if you can comply with them and feel comfortable doing so. 
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Our project portfolio extends globally, encompassing US-friendly countries as well. However, we prioritize U.S. and international projects located in US-friendly countries. Our lenders are comfortable financing projects in any country as long as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Canada do not impose international sanctions on these countries.

Each lender has its lending parameters, credit appetite, geography, and industries in which they are interested in financing the projects. Generally speaking, we work with projects starting at USD/EURO/GBP 5 million and up to 5 Billion.

Our project financing program requires borrowers to have a minimum of 20% to 30% of their capital invested or available to invest in the projects. This means that the capital stack will be either 80/20 or 70/30. However, in some cases, lenders may complement the financing structure with mezzanine debt and equity finance combined with senior lending. This can be useful when projects require higher levels of gearing and can help create a viable financing structure.

Commercial Real Estate, Hotels & Resorts, Shopping Malls, Healthcare, Oil & Gas, Waste to Energy, Renewable Energy, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Software Development, Infrastructure such as Ports, Rail, Buildings, Telecoms, Retail, Residential, and Commercial. Other project types will be on a case-by-case basis.

We do not charge any upfront fee, no stand-by fee, no Zoom meeting fee, no application fee, no revision fee, and no consider fee for our services. However, we charge a small success fee/consultant fee for finding lenders and arranging commercial loans for our clients. The fee for arranging debt is typically between 1% to 3%, while the fee for arranging equity financing is 5%. Please remember that our partner(s) may charge separate fees besides Hakim Saya’s.

In the case of transactions that are (a) valued at over Twenty Million United States Dollars (USD 20,000,000) and (b) deemed by our firm to be of significant complexity and magnitude, a retainer fee shall be applicable to engage our firm’s services. The retainer fee is to ensure the clients are fully committed before we embark on the lengthy funding process, especially for project financing. The retainer fee is non-refundable. In the event that the client elects not to proceed with the transaction with the lenders introduced by our firm after receiving a Letter of Intent (LOI) or Term Sheet, then our firm retains the right to the full amount of the retainer fee for services rendered up to that point.

The retainer fee is separate from the 1% to 3% success fee that we charge for finding lenders and arranging commercial loans for our clients. This will be stipulated in our Professional Services Agreement. The retainer fee compensates us for our work, which is a comprehensive suite of consultancy services, including but not limited to communication via phone and email, sourcing and vetting potential lenders, and the preparation of credit memoranda for presentation to said lenders.

It's important to note that when it comes to project financing, our lenders are non-bank institutions such as private financial institutions, private money lenders, or private family offices. These lenders offer alternative capital in the non-bank project finance market. Therefore, it is customary for borrowers seeking debt finance projects to bear the cost of all due diligence, including professional reports, legal work, and structuring.

The project sponsor, owner, or promoter must be able to pay for the project financing structuring costs. While there are no upfront fees, project financing structuring costs may exist if the project is approved for funding, especially when the lender issues a term sheet. These costs may vary, be reduced, or not exist at all, depending on the project’s complexity and overall credit risk profiles of the projects. They are only applicable if the project is approved.

The borrower needs to understand that no cost is associated with issuing an LOI, term sheet, or offer. Please remember that the lender will never issue an LOI or a Term Sheet if they don’t believe that the projects have strong merits for consideration.

As a Business Finance Consulting Firm, we do not directly provide loans to our clients. Instead, we collaborate with various direct funding sources to meet our client’s business financing needs. Some of our partnerships are exclusive. For example, we partnered with a few direct lenders specializing in project financing, and they can provide project financing worldwide.

Our partnerships include Private Financial Institutions, Private Family Offices, Commercial, Conventional Retail, Private Wholesale Lenders, Private Equity Firms, and Alternative and Non-Bank Lenders. We are a licensed finance broker under California Financing Law with license numbers 60DBO-118241 and NMLS 2229743.

We specialize in offering financial solutions for businesses based in the USA. Our primary focus is on domestic clients. Additionally, we provide project financing for domestic and international clients and funding for complex transactions that may not be covered by traditional bank financing. Our funding sources offer a wide range of products to cater to various project requirements.

All of our lenders have strict funding policies and requirements. Thus, applicants/borrowers need to follow our processes and protocols. Failing to follow our processes and protocols means no path to success.

All loans are subject to each lender’s eligibility requirements, underwriting guidelines, terms and conditions, and approval. Each lender may require specific supporting documentation for each new application.

We offer Business Consulting services.

Our focus is to locate suitable lenders for your commercial loans. We charge a success fee/consultant fee ranging from 1% to 3% of the requested amount. The success fee/consultant fee depends on various factors, such as the complexity of the projects, credit risk profiles, loan size, industry, location, and transaction type. Our fee agreement outlines the terms and conditions of our services. Hakim Saya will not charge any fees unless clients successfully receive funding or establish relationships with the lenders we introduce.

The closing costs vary from lender to lender and the types of financing projects that the borrower applies. For example, in 80/20 or 70/30 programs, lenders may charge between 3% and 3.5% of the total gross loan amount or total finance amount.

Some lenders may permit the remaining closing costs to be paid and subtracted from the loan proceeds at the time of closing after the borrower has paid a certain percentage of the commitment fee. The commitment fee amount may differ from one lender to another, and it can range from 1% to as high as 10% of the total financing amount.

Our ideal clients are those who are action-oriented and have some capital to pay for the structuring costs of the loans, capital to invest in their projects, and possess a strong project and management team. We value clients who are committed to the funding process and respond promptly by providing the necessary documentation and actively securing the funding required for your project. Thus, we encourage you to assist us in helping you meet your financing needs.

Thank you for considering our lending services. We are excited to discuss your project with you, but we must first review your preliminary project documents to speak intelligently about it.

We only schedule a call after reviewing your preliminary documents. This is non-negotiable. We will analyze and pre-screen all projects upon receiving the documents.

Once we have carefully reviewed the materials, we will determine whether we can work on the files or assist you with your project financing. If the project meets our lender's criteria, we will contact you to proceed with the next steps of the application process. If not, we will decline the project and notify you accordingly. The review process will take approximately 2-3 business days, depending on our workload.

To ensure uniformity, we require the following preliminary documents:

  • Executive Summary
  • Business Plan with an Exit Strategy
  • 5-10 years of Financial Projections in Excel format
  • Management Resume/Sponsor's Background
  • Project Development Construction Budget (if applicable).
  • Please provide any other information or documentation that would benefit your application.

Please note that our lenders have stringent funding policies, and you must comply with their requirements. We recommend that you take the time to develop an effective, high-quality project business plan to present to our lenders and us. Our lenders have a unique platform that follows specific processes and protocols, which cannot be altered. Those who adhere to their guidelines will find the process seamless, while those who attempt to customize their steps may find better-suited platforms elsewhere.

We work with private financial institutions, private family offices, private equity firms, private wholesalers, etc. These lenders often work with gatekeepers, such as Hakim Saya: Your Global Funding Partner, to prioritize their focus on financing activities rather than managing the influx of submissions from aspiring entrepreneurs.

These submissions often consist of unfeasible proposals. Gatekeepers act as a filter during the initial inquiry stage to identify and present only viable and shovel-ready propositions to suitable lenders. To ensure that only deserving proposals reach our lenders, their identities are withheld until they have had the opportunity to review your projects and all the documents we provided with our recommendations. Additionally, our lenders may opt to work through their legal representatives to protect their anonymity.

Due to the nature of the industry that we operate in, our clients have entered into confidentiality agreements with the lender and us, making it impossible for us to reveal any names on our website. Each transaction is treated as private and is safeguarded by a confidentiality agreement. Therefore, we do not employ our client’s information to secure new business from third parties.

Please note that private investors or private lenders typically invest in the market through asset managers, hedge funds, or other wealth managers, often utilizing proprietary structures. Due to the confidential nature of these transactions, every deal is covered by a confidentiality agreement. Any breach of this agreement could result in the loss of investors or other problems for these private investors or lenders.

You are auditioning for our business and, ultimately, our lender’s businesses, not the other way around. Also, due to the high volume of inquiries and submissions that we receive daily, we cannot sign the client’s NDA. Instead, we have a standard NCNDA and Professional Services Agreement, which we will ask you to sign if we want to work with you or proceed with your project's financing request. We must have this agreement in place before we can work with you. If you are uncomfortable providing the basic and necessary information we request so that we can create the NCNDA and Professional Services Agreement, please DO NOT proceed if you cannot comply with our processes and protocols. Our lenders also have strict requirements and funding policies that you must meet.