How Can Microfinance Help Immigrant Entrepreneurs?
Last month Foulis Peacock from Immpreneur.com dropped by ACCION USA’s New York office to have a conversation with our CEO Paul Quintero about domestic microlending. While microfinance institutions have long played a role in developing economies, the concept and need for microlending services in the United States may be less familiar to many. With immigrant entrepreneurs driving small business growth in urban hubs around the country, domestic microfinance has never been more relevant.
In this video excerpt, Foulis and Paul discuss the special role of domestic microfinance as it relates to immigrant entrepreneurs, or “immpreneuers”.
To watch the full interview with ACCION CEO Paul Quintero click here!
Celebrate Small Business at Festival Fete’s Holiday Market
As Small Business Saturday approaches, people across the country are reminded that where they buy gifts is just as important, if not more important, as what they buy. Small business is the lifeblood of local economies and conscious patronizing is the action that will drive job growth and reignite community vibrancy. That is why ACCION USA, a leader in domestic microlending and a proud partner of Small Business Saturday, is excited to announce our support for the entrepreneurs participating in the Festival Fete Holiday Market with a FREE credit seminar. Claudia Cardozo, business development officer at ACCION USA will lead the conversation as she teaches entrepreneurs different ways to access financing and promote their brand, with a focus on internet marketing.
Festival Fete’s Holiday Market embodies the spirit of small business, as an event featuring locally grown food, art and products from talented individuals across New England. The Holiday Market will include over 100 Contemporary American Craft artists, strolling entertainment, a farmers market, and children’s crafts and entertainment. The market is a 2-day extravaganza, taking place over Thanksgiving weekend (November 25th and 26th) at the Rhode Island Convention Center, 11am to 6pm daily. For entrepreneurs who are participating in the fair, we’d love to have you attend our credit seminar on November 26th just before the fair begins at 11am. Don’t worry if you can’t make it, you can find ACCION USA at booth 223 – stop by and say hello!
Department of Minority and Women-Owned Businesses adds Corporate Alliance Program
In addition to their government contractor certification, The M/WBE Program has launched the Corporate Alliance Program (CAP), an initiative that will connect City-certified Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises to contracting and capacity-building opportunities in the private sector. The CAP program will match certified Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises with private contracts, provide corporate skills training, and training for with the private sector. Read more about the program
How can the Division of Minority and Women-owned Businesses help your business?
By becoming certified as a Minority and Women Owned Business, you are eligible to receive increased opportunity for government contracts and financial assistance. Furthermore, by being listed in the Directory of MWBEs you will receive free advertising for your business. The MWBE Program can also provide you with courses on business, as well as one-on-one guidance on opportunities to sell to the government. If your business is 51% owned by a woman or an individual from a recognized minority group, you are eligible to become an MWBE. You also will receive exclusive invitations to networking events. You will also become a part of the Corporate Alliance Program (CAP Program). The CAP program will match certified Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises with private contracts, provide corporate skills training, and training for contracting with the private sector.
Interested in applying for the MWBE program? Find out more information on ACCION USA’s website or call Karla Pineda at 646-833-4534.
ACCION USA Partner Spotlight: Citi
ACCION USA has had the pleasure to be partners with Citi for the last 7 years. Citi serves as great support on a national and local level, funding everything from our micro lending and financial education programs, to product innovation, to program expansion, to even some of our new strategic initiatives like our green loan program.
Currently Citi and ACCION USA have teamed up in Miami to strengthen small businesses in Miami. In 2009 Citi awarded grants totaling $90,000 to Miami-Dade College’s School Of Business and ACCION USA to address these issues. ACCION USA has provided more than $6 million in over 1,100 loans to low and moderate income micro entrepreneurs in Miami-Dade County since its offices opened there in 2003. ACCION USA also offers a Small Business “Bootcamp” where we provide “speed coaching” to empower entrepreneurs. In providing funding as well as financial education, both Citi and ACCION USA are ensuring that small businesses in Miami have the tools they need to survive. Small businesses create jobs and by creating jobs, we are doing our part to help with the economic recovery.
For more information about Citi’s community development programs visit their brand new website: http://www.citicommunitydevelopment.com/
Got a small business question? Ask Tory Burch!
If you could ask a question to Tory Burch, what would it be? The Tory Burch Foundation is offering the chance to ask your questions. The Tory Burch Foundation in late February launched a new online Mentor Q&A feature. In addition to asking a standard set of questions to a leading entrepreneur every month, the Tory Burch Foundation is also giving small business owners the chance to submit their own questions. Submit your questions by March 31st to info@toryburchfoundation.org.Tory Burch is a fashion designer, mother, and entrepreneur who believes that one of the most important ways to create change is to empower women. Tory Burch was launched in 2004 and has grown to work with clients such as Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julianne Moore, Katie Holmes, Uma Thurman, and Hilary Swank. The Tory Burch Foundation is a non-profit 501(C)3 organization that provides economic opportunity to women and their families in the United States.
A Pilot Seminar Initiative
It’s a rainy Tuesday night in East Boston; a nice night to stay at home or in the shop. Yet at 143 Border Street in East Boston, dozens of entrepreneurs trickle in to grab a seat for the second night of a seminar series on Business Financial Management. The energy and excitement grows, as business owners from around East Boston and the greater Boston community, fill up a conference room at the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH), and East-Boston based community development corporation, to participate in a class on ‘Understanding Financial Statements’.
Seminar participants
This is the second class of a six-part seminar series for Latino business owners on Business Financial Management. The series was designed by a collaborative group of business assistance providers and community organizations including ACCION USA, the Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce, East Boston Savings Bank and NOAH. These organizations came together with a common goal of facilitating a comprehensive series on managing business finances, led entirely in Spanish, while providing a space for business owners to make connections with one another.
Seminars take place every Tuesday night for six weeks and are led by professionals in financial planning, accounting, and ACCION USA. The continuous flow of questions, answers and comments last week indicated that many entrepreneurs have real questions around how to organize and reconcile their expenses, while others have examples and ideas that they are willing to share.
Small businesses are essential to building strong communities and a healthy economy.
Tags: accion usa, Boston, business, East Boston, massachusetts, microfinance, small business, United States
Beer, Pita Chips, and Burritos?
Jim Koch (right), founder of The Boston Beer Company, can relate to the struggles of a small business owner. At yesterday's Brewing the American Dream U, he offered advice and expertise to over 150 local entrepreneurs.
Yesterday afternoon, the streets of Boston were damp and a bit dreary. But indoors, things were bright: teachers dispensed knowledge, students absorbed every word, and both listened and learned from each others’ experiences. But this scene’s setting wasn’t the halls of Harvard or MIT. Rather, it was the second-floor ballroom of the Park Plaza Hotel, where ACCION USA and The Boston Beer Company presented the inaugural Brewing the American Dream U: a free, half-day event for entrepreneurs in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries to receive expertise from leading local business owners.
Over 150 entrepreneurs attended. For four hours, they listened as fifteen experts shared advice and fielded questions on topics including “What I Learned on My Way to the Kitchen” and “Getting Your Product Ready for Retail.” The advice was timely, inspirational, and most importantly, honest.
Jim Koch, founder of The Boston Beer Company, discussed the salesman’s mentality (every time he walked into a bar, he had only a few seconds to determine why the people sitting at the counter should drink his beer and why the person behind the counter should sell it). Stacy Madison, founder of Stacy’s Pita Chips, explained the importance of targeted marketing strategies (it’s like a fire hose: you have to focus your efforts, not just spray aimlessly). And John Pepper, founder of Boloco, emphasized the necessity of resilience (he pitched his business to 39 investors before he heard the word “yes”).
The event was an important step in strengthening the Boston Beer Company-ACCION USA partnership – appropriately named Brewing the American Dream – which launched in 2008. In the past two years, the program has provided loans to small business owners in Massachusetts and, in doing so, saved or created 282 jobs.
The partnership not only involves loans but, more so, financial education and “speed coaching” events designed to empower entrepreneurs with the knowledge they need to build their businesses. Together, these programs support entrepreneurs and prepare them for the many challenges of business ownership. And judging by an e-mail we received from an event participant this morning, these efforts are working:
“I just wanted to let you know how awesome yesterday was. I was amazed at how eager and enthusiastic all the panel members, Sam Adams, and ACCION were to lend a hand to micro entrepreneurs. It was truly inspiring and empowering. As a member of the food industry, I have many friends and colleagues with big dreams of starting their own venture and I’m certain they are not aware of these incredible resources available to them. I am excited to spread the word, and to seriously consider pursuing my dream as well.”
Help “brew” this entrepreneur’s dream by donating here.
Tags: accion usa, boloco, Boston, entrepreneur, Financial Education, jim koch, Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, small business, stacy's pita chips
New Summer Survey Under Way!
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson
We hear this philosophy often, and I believe it to be true. Think back to all those who have shaped your life, your thoughts, and your decisions: teachers and family, friends and mentors, coaches, neighbors, and pastors. Sometimes, short, one-time experiences can be just as impactful.
That is the hope of ACCION USA’s financial education team. We aim to build lasting relationships with program participants, and often we do; individuals will attend a webinar, we’ll then invite them a speed coaching event, and they will eventually apply for a business loan. Many times, though, we have only an hour – the length of a webinar or community workshop – to impact someone’s life.
Samuel Adams founder Jim Koch (right) offers business advice to a Boston business owner at a recent financial education event.
With that understanding, ACCION USA recently developed and launched our first-ever financial education longitudinal impact survey. We’ve gathered the names and contact information of financial education participants over the past year and half and are, through the end of July, surveying them on the quality, outcomes, and long-term impact of our financial education events.
Thus far, the results are very positive. Participants – even those from as far back as January 2009 – remember the events, remember what they learned, and can explain how the event content has since shaped their financial decisions. I’m personally interviewing speed coaching participants, and nearly all remember specific business advice they received! One man explained a coach’s advice to simplify his business logo, and another woman gushed about a coach’s suggestions to reach new clients with her niche business.
Currently, we gather feedback at the end of each financial education event; it helps us understand the event’s immediate effect on participants. But this longitudinal survey will be even more helpful by reporting the event’s long-lasting effects. Does a woman now have a habit of making a budget? Did she review her credit report for the first time and dispute an error? Did she improve her credit score, qualifying herself for a small business loan?
Above all, the survey results will help ACCION USA learn what we are doing well and how we can change our programs to more effectively serve entrepreneurs.
Stay tuned for the full survey report in August!
Tags: Financial Education, impact, Sam Adams, speed coaching, workshop
ACCION USA’s Financial Education Program Mid-Year Results
By Clare Scanlan
After weeks of planning and hundreds of calls made to recruit attendees for ACCION USA’s Show Me the Money financial panel on June 15, we had a great turn out. I originally thought that would be the most rewarding part of the event, but a few weeks later, when I saw Show Me the Money attendee Jerry Bonilla come into the ACCION USA conference room to discuss his $15,000 business loan, I saw the real impact of our financial literacy events—entrepreneurs using what they learned to grow their businesses.
Jerry’s company Nanghost, founded almost seven months ago, provides website development and design, hosting, maintenance, marketing and analysis to over 1000 small businesses. He is using his ACCION USA loan to buy a new server, which will allow him to serve an unlimited number of clients and streamline his systems.
Financial education classes are one of the ways that ACCION USA helps empower business owners with credit knowledge.
There were 12 ACCION USA clients like Jerry that received loans totaling $44,815 during the first half of 2010 as a direct result of our Financial Education Program. Other highlights of our progress from January to June 2010 include:
- 1544 individuals were educated by the AUSA Financial Education Program through 109 one-to-one counseling sessions, 50 workshops, 18 webinars, and 4 speed coaching events
- AUSA developed its online tools with new financial tip sheets, interactive recordkeeping worksheets for the online download center, and an interactive E-learning course on credit
- The 2010 Business Survival Strategies curriculum and presentation were developed, including accompanying articles and handouts
- Miami-based credit coaching sessions were launched, which provide in-depth one-on-one counseling with an AUSA credit coach for a one-time $20 fee
- AUSA’s first longitudinal impact survey was launched in June
Founded in 2001, AUSA’s Financial Education Program continues to grow as the need for financial literacy becomes more and more critical with the changing economic climate.
Clare Scanlan is serving as the Financial Education Intern for ACCION USA during Summer 2010. She is a rising junior at Georgetown University studying Economics and Spanish.
Coaching Helps Miami Small Business Owners Improve Credit & Stand Up to the Recession
Hopefully, the economy really is picking up. Economic pundits have been going back on forth on whether there was indeed a pulse in our economic recovery. South Florida sure hopes so. The fallout from the recession has left many business owners with blemishes on their credit profiles, and ACCION USA has done our very best to respond.
While ACCION USA has always provided credit tips and education throughout our loan process, we wanted to formalize these services and make them individualized. In February, we launched a ‘Credit Coaching Services’ pilot in Miami. A Credit Coaching session is a chance for a business owner (or future business owner!) to sit down one-on-one with an ACCION USA credit expert to work on solving their specific credit issues and developing strategies for improving their credit profile.
ACCION USA Credit Coach Benjamin Himmelfarb walks a client through his credit report
The truth of the matter is that our current credit reporting system is flawed. For the uninitiated, credit bureau reports can be really hard to read and understand. The laws about consumer rights are complex, and credit companies and collections agencies often take advantage of that fact to break the rules. Alarmingly, almost 50% of credit bureau reports contain errors!
That’s why many clients have found it very useful to review their Equifax, Experian, or Transunion report with a credit expert at ACCION USA.
ACCION USA staff worked with one woman who has owned a family restaurant for 20 years. She had some financial difficulties a few years back and had a legal judgment filed against her by a credit card company. When we reviewed her report, we found that even though the account was closed by the court, the credit card company was still reporting that she was paying late! This was really affecting her credit score and history, but a few phone calls and dispute letters later we were able to make sure the company reported the account as closed. She’s hoping to obtain business financing soon.
Of the folks who participate in a Credit Coaching session, some want to solve credit issues before they apply for business financing. Some have experienced identity fraud and want to clear their name. Some want to figure out how the best way to pay down debt. But everybody leaves with the tools they need.
Remember, there is no such thing as a quick fix for credit problems, but knowledge is power!
If you know a business owner in need of coaching, or would like to sign up for a Credit Coaching session yourself, please contact Benjamin Himmelfarb at: bhimmelfarb@accionusa.org.
Tags: credit coaching, miami