Trick or Treat, we’ve got something local to eat…
I always remember trick or treating as a kid. It was a great way to interact with the community by going from house to house and meeting your neighbors. I might look silly trick or treating now, as an adult, but I do it in my own way – by buying treats from local businesses in the community. Here are some delicious treats from local small businesses that you can trick or treat with this Halloween.
Try a spooky Halloween Brownie Pop from The Chocolate Swirl
“When the economy tanked, two of my jobs were taken away. So I thought, it’s time to start my own,” reminisces Lisa Braciligiano, owner of The Chocolate Swirl. Lisa started off working as a theatrical stage manager. On opening night, everyone would show the cast with lavish gifts. “I was an intern, and not getting paid,” explains Lisa. “I was broke. So I made my own gifts.” Lisa started with a truffle, and would bring different chocolate desserts each time. “Everyone loved them. They kept telling me that I should sell them.”
After her exploits in theater, Lisa decided to attend culinary school. After she graduated, she was working multiple jobs as a pastry chef and at restaurants. It was a result of losing her job that prompted her to start her business. With an $8,000 loan from ACCION USA, Lisa was able to continue to rent kitchen space as well as increase her marketing.
Warm up your evening with a Dark ‘n’ Stormy cocktail with locally made ginger syrup from Morris Kitchens!
NYC foodie Kari Morris started Morris Kitchen, a local ginger syrup manufacturer, over 2 years ago with her brother Tyler. Coming from a family of gourmands, Kari and Tyler’s decision to be food and beverage entrepreneurs came as no surprise. Kari brings 10 years of experience in fine foods to her business and has acquired a host of very well known clients to sell her product. “October-December are very busy months. I’ve already been contacted by various magazine to feature my syrup as a Holiday To buy item,” Kari explains.A $9,000 loan from ACCION USA helped Kari increase production for the busy holiday season, as well as to purchase labels for new products and cover design costs.
How do her customers enjoy Kari’s ginger syrup, you might ask? According to an interview, “the syrup is delicious mixed with seltzer for fresh ginger ale, drizzled over ice cream, or used in one of the entree or dessert recipes posted on their website,” which also shares recipes for seasonal cocktails.
Try a LifeField Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookie. They go perfect with a cup of hot chocolate on a crisp autumn day.
A New York City native, Rhoda Plotkin’s business idea came about from a series of serendipitous interactions. Rhoda recounts her friend needing a USA-based contact 9 years ago to import high volumes of select Russian buckwheat. Realizing a lucrative market opportunity for this nutrient packed herb that can be used as a flour substitute for millions of gluten-free Americans, Rhoda decided to take a leap of faith by assuming the role as receiving link. Rhoda collaborated with her baker friend to develop a product line that would incorporate buckwheat, confident that baked goods would not be difficult to sell. “Once I got started, I just kept going,” Rhoda reflects, remembering being swept away with the excitement of entrepreneurship. “Creation is an exciting thing. Day-to-day office work can be dull and mundane but there is something thrilling about taking a risk to create something new,” Rhoda said.
However, Rhoda needed capital to purchase equipment, rent our warehouse space and import buckwheat in bulk but had no leverage with a commercial bank as a new entrepreneur requesting a loan for under $100,000. “It’s very difficult to get a commercial loan these days. Even people with good credit history can’t get a loan,” Rhoda explained. With Rhoda’s first ACCION USA loan for $5,000, Rhoda was able to expand her business by purchasing 35,000 pounds of buckwheat and securing additional warehouse space. LifeField Buckwheat has expanded to offer an array of buckwheat-based products available online and in select stores, from LifeField Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies to LifeField Pancake and Waffle Mix.
Take a walk on the wild side and spice it up with a guajillo and aji amarillo chile infused chocolate bar from Raaka Chocolates.
Ryan Cheney was living in a monastery in Thailand when he first tried the local organic chocolate that would inspire him to start his own 
chocolate company. When Ryan returned to the U.S. he created Raaka Chocolate and immediately developed relationships with farms in Dominican Republic and Bolivia to import free-trade, organic cacao. Ryan then started creating different flavor chocolates (Dark w/ Sea Salt, Blueberry Lavender, Hazelnut and Vanilla Rooibos) in his own home and sold at farmers markets to family and friends. Ryan didn’t expect his business to be a growing success but as the demand for his chocolate grew he knew he needed to find capital to expand.
With an ACCION USA loan for $20,000, Ryan was able to grow Raaka Chocolate by purchasing inventory, packaging supplies and also paying vending fees at Union Square and Columbus Circle markets. Today, Ryan has two employees, sells chocolate to over 17 stores in Manhattan, a store in Portland, Oregon and to customers all over the country through online sales.
Why Microfinance Is Important To Me
By Alexandra Mills
In college I went on spring break service trips to a village in Nicaragua two years in a row, each time hoping not only to gain a personal learning experience but also to make a lasting impact on the people there. When I was there last year I met an amazing woman named Francesca who has a small bread making business out of her home. She sold it to everyone in the town and would walk a few miles every day to sell it in the larger community of Somotillo. I remember Francesca saying that she could sell much more bread if she had another oven built, but she couldn’t afford it.
After coming back to the United States, I heard about microlending in a class and started thinking back to Francesca. I researched more into the world of microfinance and found Kiva.org. I was absolutely amazed with the fact that while I was finishing my senior year at Eckerd College in Florida, I could be lending to people just like Francesca anywhere in the world, including Somotillo. I realized that this would make a much larger impact than going there for a week every year. That’s when I knew I wanted to be involved on a larger scale.
Having been fortunate enough to travel to developing countries like China, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, it never crossed my mind that microfinance could benefit citizens of the United States. Since the start of my internship at Accion USA, I’ve learned that microfinance institutions in the United States are helping create opportunities for people in this struggling economy. I’ve realized that there are entrepreneurs like Francesca here in the US–in New York City, even on my block– who need the same financial assistance than people abroad. Some of these people have come thousands of miles from countries far and wide to live the “American dream”, but I can’t imagine how difficult that must be when most traditional financial institutions offer little or no support.
Accion USA works right here in our backyard and the mission is not to lift people out of poverty as much as it is to help small businesses thrive. I’ve been noticing how many jobs in the United States we’ve been helping create by giving small business loans. Every day, as I continue to learn the ins-and-outs of microfinance in the US, I pass by our clients in the streets of New York City and it reminds me why the mission of microfinance is so important to me.
Alexandra Mills is the Kiva Coordinator Intern at ACCION USA. She is a graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL.
First Sam Adams “Food Labeling” Workshop a Success
October 4 marked a successful “Food Labeling” workshop (part 1 of 3) from the Sam Adams Brewing the American Dream program. Held at Sam Adams HQ’s in Boston, the event was led by industry specialists from Sam Adams and ACCION USA and had a fantastic showing of 46 local food and beverage entrepreneurs. The workshop, which covered a range of food labeling topics, is part of a broader mentoring campaign to help empower small businesses around the country with capital and invaluable industry knowledge.
Elizabeth Garlow, Business Development Officer at ACCION USA, commented that many food and beverage business owners in the audience were very impressed with how relevant the training was, a small business owner remarking that “it’s impossible to get this information anywhere else.” One attendee learned that local businesses were at an advantage because it is easier to create brand loyalty, considering that today many customers want to meet the owner and know the history of the business. Another attendee learned that listing “whole peppercorn” as an individual ingredient instead of listing all spices/flavors as “spices” will mitigate risk for a company. If you want to learn the logic behind this and other industry related advice from the event, check out a blogpost about the workshop from one of the attendees, Bienne Foods.
Register for part two of the “Food Labeling” workshop series to take place on Tuesday, October 11 called “Federal Regulation and Marketing Your Product.”
ACCION USA Partner Spotlight: Citi
Partner Spotlight: Citi
ACCION USA joined Citibank in Upper Manhattan during the week of May 16th to celebrate Small Business Month. Together, we worked to connect entrepreneurs in Washington Heights with the financial and educational resources needed to keep their businesses thriving. Sonia Baba-Shahverdy, owner of Step by Steps Daycare , received a loan with ACCION USA and Citibank’s support and is using it to invest in her daycare business.
ACCION Microfinance- Inwood, New York.
Brewing a New Market for Microloans.
ACCION USA Staff are brewing up a new market for our microloans. Where, you may ask, are we stirring up this new business? Well, we like to think of ourselves as ‘loan brewristas’, taking the craft brew scene by storm in partnership with Samuel Adams on our Brewing the American Dream program.
As the craft brew scene in America blossoms, ACCION USA is working alongside the industry’s leader and pioneer Samuel Adams to champion small craft brewers by providing microloans to start or expand a home or contract brewing operation, storefront brewery or brewpub.
Our Craft Brewer Loan Fund is making a splash across the country, supporting unique brews like California based Mateveza , Roc Brewing Company in Rochester NY and Flounder Brewing in Hillsborough. Through a recent loan to a home brew supply shop, we feel we’re starting to make a real mark on an exciting movement.
A few years ago, I (Erica) read an article in New York magazine about a couple that had opened a homebrew shop in Brooklyn. I remember being impressed by knowing that something like this could exist, that a young couple, both former chefs could open their own hobby store in the midst of the greatest recession my generation has seen.
Danielle and Benjamin’s homebrew shop is nestled in a swampy yet very hip neighborhood called Gawanus in Brooklyn. You feel like a happy hobbit walking into their garden level brew dwelling- upon entering you see a magnificently organized candy store for the likes of hobby craft brewers. When they responded to my direct email about the Brewing the American Dream Program, I biked over as quickly as I could to explain the awesome benefits that ACCION and Sam Adams have to offer their crafty community.
When Benjamin and Danielle opened Brooklyn homebrew they did it without the help of a bank or a credit card. They started selling from their home at first and later expanded to their store front on 3rd avenue. The issue Danielle and Benjamin were encountering was having space to keep enough inventory-they are able to sell out of their entire stock, sometimes in just one weekend! Once Danielle and Benjamin submitted their application and a few documents, ACCION USA was able to approve them for a loan of $10,000 to buy a larger fridge and to rent a storage space nearby to keep their beer booty.
As the American craft beer renaissance continues to take off in Brooklyn, so does their business.
At ACCION, we are very excited to be contributing to an incredible movement of entrepreneurial creativity. In addition to providing capital, mentorship, and PR support, our Craft Brewer Program has offered brewers the opportunity to apply for the Samuel Adams Experienceship. Stay tuned for more details on how you can help us select our winner!
-Erica and Elizabeth, ACCION USA Loan Brewistas.
Tags: beer, beer loan, beer microloan, brewer, brewery, brewing the american dream, loan money, micro brewer, microbrewer, microfinance, microloan, Sam Adams
Celebrate Fashion Week with NYC Small Businesses
As all the big names in fashion gather here in New York City to show off their 2012 lines, it’s nice to remember how much local talent we have in the Big Apple. Show your support for our local businesses, and remember that the big names once started out small as well.
Natasha Wozniak Designs, Natasha Wozniak
Natasha began working as an artist at fifteen, and her passion for design has been a journey ever since. From this early age, she knew she wanted to work in metal, and learned the art through a variety of sources, from university schooling in Wisconsin to field work in Nepal alongside Buddhist statuary makers. Natasha began her career in jewelry as a bench jeweler in New York, churning out rings and earrings by the hundreds and thousands for various designers. After gaining the necessary industry experience, Natasha decided to work independently, designing and creating her hand-fabricated jewelry collection in her own studio. Natasha now sets her own schedule and designs her own pieces, among them unique engagement rings, work for select galleries, and new wall pieces.
Her entrepreneurial spirit and uniquely-crafted pieces have brought Natasha nationwide success. She travels all over the 
country for jewelry and design shows, and her work is now displayed in galleries in multiple states. However, in early 2010, Natasha needed help straightening out her finances, but couldn’t get a traditional bank loan. She found ACCION USA online, and applied for an ACCION USA loan via our online platform. She was quickly approved for a loan of $5,000, and is now working closely with ACCION USA to get the business side of her artistic passion on track.
To take a look at Natasha’s work and make purchases, visit her website at www.natashajewelry.com.
Sandra Baquero, Sandra Nieto
Sandra is an up and coming fashion designer in New York who hails from Colombia, and brings a Latin American sense of style to her popular handmade designs. Fashion is a difficult and time-consuming field, but Sandra is so passionate about design that she is willing to persevere through hardship. She has worked her way up in New York – and is now featured in several Manhattan boutiques, and has her own online shop.
However, times got tough for Sandra and her family when the recession hit, her husband lost his job, and Sandra became the sole supporter of her family, unfortunately this meant that she could not save enough money to pay entrance to various New York trade shows in Bryant Park and Madison Square Park, a major source of income for Sandra. She started looking for a loan to cover the costs, but had difficulty obtaining a loan from a bank. She discovered ACCION USA at a panel discussion at the Colombian Consul in April of 2010. ACCION USA gave Sandra a $6,000 loan that would cover the fees to participate in annual trade shows.
Thanks to the boost ACCION USA gave to Sandra, her business has become very successful, she is now so busy that she has hired two part-time seamstresses to help prepare for the busy trade show season. Take a look at Sandra’s line at www.sandrabaquero.com/ or shop for her clothing on Etsy.
Cousin & Co., Undra Duncan and Shekima Francois
Cousins Shekima and Undra started out by making their own purses to wear to parties. After they got enough attention from other people, they decided to make it into a business. Undra remembers in 2004 when they bought some leather and tried to find a sample maker to take them seriously. They had been trying to a get a loan from a bank, but they found it to be very difficult. “When ACCION USA gave us the opportunity, we were like ‘wow, they’re actually taking a risk with us.’” Cousin & Co. has had two loans with ACCION USA and is currently supported by the Tory Burch Foundation.
Watch an interview with Shekima, Undra, & Tory Burch. To shop for Cousin & Co handbags visit: www.cousinandco.com
Overall Baby, Jenny Kim
Imagine that if as a kid you could have your favorite pair of overalls redone with a more interesting fabric. That’s what Jenny Kim did. During college, Jenny began fascinated with overalls while she worked for a clothing line that featured workwear items for children. After pursuing other interests, she returned to her fascination with overalls in 2006. Jenny explains that, “Overalls are a very practical purchase for parents because the adjustable straps make it easy for children to grow into and extend the life of its wear.”
Jenny started selling her brand of overalls on Etsy.com, an online community of buyers and sellers for handmade crafts. Her overalls are now available in stores nationwide, and even internationally in Australia, Canada, Italy, and Indonesia. In order to keep up her high selling inventory, Jenny approached ACCION USA for a loan. Overall Baby is now ready for the holiday season.
In need of a baby gift or just want to live vicariously through these adorable items? Visit Jenny’s website at www.overallbaby.com
Karisma, Arlyn Zacarías
As a single mother, Arlyn has always loved the flexibility of working for herself, even when she lived in her home country of the Dominican Republic she used her entrepreneurial spirit to make a living . In the United States Arlyn started making money by shopping for discounted clothes at the Macy’s in Manhattan and selling it door to door in the Bronx. Little by little her business started growing and in October 2008 Arlyn was able to save up enough to open her own boutique in the Bronx called “Karisma.”
Arlyn’s boutique has a nice variety of women’s clothes handbags, shoes, and custom jewelry, but unfortunately that wasn’t always the case. In 2010 Arlyn was having a hard time getting enough inventory for her store, she needed a loan to make a bigger purchase and fill up her store. As a new immigrant, Arlyn had very little credit, so banks were not ever an option, luckily one of her friends had heard about ACCION USA, a local non-profit organization that spoke her language and was able to help those with younger credit histories. Arlyn met with her loan consultant (Evelyn) and together figured out a loan amount she could take on without putting herself in debt. A couple of weeks later, Arlyn received a $6000 loan and thanks to that she was able to but the current beautiful and fashionable items that fill her store today.
Visit Arlyn’ store in the Bronx: 1343 Ogden Ave, New York, NY 10452
What If Your Life Depended on a Loan?
In Spanish, there is a saying: “nadie sabe para quien trabaja.” Translated, it means you never know who you are really working for.
Every day at ACCION USA we see the faces of those we work for, individuals, who with the help of business loans and financial education, fulfill their dreams of becoming financially independent and able to provide for their loved ones. However, sometimes we don’t really know exactly how our loan is working to change a life.
Hurricane Irene Damage in New Jersey -Picture taken by Monica Castillo
Today, we learned a life lesson on what our recent loan meant for a client named “Magda.” In thanking us, here is what she wrote to Karla, the loan consultant who helped her with her application (translated from Spanish):
“Thanks again for your help in closing the loan; at this moment, you don’t even realize how important it was. Hurricane Irene may have left us without power until this Friday and almost all our food would have perished. Thanks to the loan, we were able to stay at a hotel and purchase the food we needed, since I am no longer able to cook due to the lack of power. There was no way that my three daughters and I could survive at home without electricity and running water. On behalf of my daughters, I want to thank you again for your timely assistance. I thank God that we are alright and that our home and families are fine. I hope you and yours are also well.
Take care,
-Magda.”
What if your life depended on a loan? At ACCION USA, we know that our work literally transforms the life of every client and today I was reminded of the magnitude of our impact. Maybe we don’t really know who we are working for—we thought it was for a person, but in this case, it was for the preservation of life itself.
-Post by Paul Quintero, ACCION USA CEO. To find out more about ACCION loans, please visit www.accionusa.org
Restaurant Review: Make Dardanel Your NEXT Night Out!
This blog post was written by Jeff Park, co-chair of the Microfinance Council of ACCION USA. His blog was inspired by a monthly group dinner at microfinance clients restaurants in New York City. Please join us for our next dinner at Arepas Cafe on July 25th at 7:00 p.m.
hand paintings at Dardanel
New York is unrivaled when it comes to the diverse selection of superb food outings and eateries. No other area in the United States dares packs as many crafted restaurants of iron caliber in one dense footage as Manhattan. This is all the more why we often forget that each individual restaurant tells a story. On an unassuming corner of 58th street and 1st avenue, Dardanel may at first appear to be one of the many Midtown restaurants that serve small tapas style portions of unbelievably delicious Mediterranean fare. Yet what the food or decor does not tell, the spirit of the hardworking staff does.
The ACCION USA Microfinance Council and friends arrived for a group outing. The restaurant is tastefully decorated true to the Mediterranean senses of a breezy summer’s wind. There is a fresh fish display at the front that immediately draws you in, and inside is a time portal that shuns the outside world of hackneyed modernity. With string music and murals that extend a panoramic scene of Bodrum, Dardanel showcases what seldom money alone can accomplish: a sense of belonging in a story to be told, a neighborhood experience to be shared.
Besides the great selection of Turkish wines, the newest region of trendy vinoculture, the fish are selected and directly from the Mediterranean. Ranging from Branzini to Dorado, grilled to fried, every palate is covered in their generous and customizable selections. This is no surprise, for Eddie is a seasoned restaurant entrepreneur. He, like many others, have learned from his past mistakes to build a sustainable positive cashflow business model in his life calling to share his hometown Turkish delicacies. Food and beverage ventures often face trouble finding financing from conventional lenders because their business is innately risky. When Eddie was refused several times from major commercial banks , he turned towards ACCION USA for help. Because ACCION USA is a non-profit microlender that works one-on-one with each client, giving many aspirers like Eddie a chance in his aspiring business, his dream was bolstered.
Eddie shares with us his past successes and failures and then his undying vision to expand his franchise. He shares his strategic and tactical concerns over the dining party, from the width of the restaurant foyer, to the size of his restaurant entrance’s ability to sync more eye contact. As the Council discussed our upcoming events and volunteer projects to be managed, it was heart warming to know that our work is directly benefiting people like Eddie and many more. At the end of the night, we asked Eddie about how he attained the colorful panoramic landscape painting that spans the restaurant, which is difficult to explain unless you visit the restaurant yourself. He shared with us that his local entrepreneur friend, who is also an aspiring painter, was commissioned to depict something that he and only his friend could have known of from back home.
It is often difficult to think about supply-side economics when the notion of capital is not nearly as sizable as the Federal Bank’s balance sheets, but in my heart I was glad to see the impact one loan extends beyond the traditional scope of scalability that I have statically assumed before. I walked away from the night, confirming the true impact that microfinance makes in the United States, especially in an unlikely Manhattan, and knew that it was not only my responsibility but my privilege to continue giving back.
Tags: accion usa. accion, microfinance
Look No Further… Volunteers Bring Microfinance Books to Your Fingertips
This blog post and its content are brought to you by the Microfinance Council of New York.
Bookstore at the Microfinance USA Conference
A huge pat on the back to all of the Microfinance Council volunteers who contributed to the Microfinance Annotated Bibliography, which was launched at the Microfinance USA Conference in May! The Bibliography compiles summaries of over 30 articles and books about domestic and international microfinance. It serves as a free resource for anyone who wants to simplify their approach to research or reading about microfinance. The Council thanks its dedicated volunteers and the Public Policy Committee– this project is on-going and anyone interested in contributing can reach out to the Chair of the Public Policy Committee to learn how to be involved (please see the website for contact information: www.accionusa.org/microfinancecouncil).
The bibliography can be found at the Microfinance USA Website (www.microfinanceusaconference.org/bookstore/) and the ACCION USA Microfinance Council site (http://www.accionusa.org/Uploads/FileManager/mfusa-bibliography.pdf)
ACCION USA Is a Key Partner on New Kiva.org, Visa Inc. Program to Support of U.S. Small Businesses
Growing up, I never liked secrets. Why? Well, after a while, I figured out that the news you were sworn to keep to yourself were exactly the topics you urgently wanted to share. What good is knowledge if you cannot apply it?
In our microlending work, we often hear that ACCION USA is “the best kept secret” from clients, partners and local government officials. Since our work depends on word of mouth, I would like to change this perception and that is why ACCION USA supports the Kiva City Initiatives by Kiva.org.
Kiva.org through the Kiva City program will be bringing visibility to the issue of job creation by focusing on the top 10 areas of the country that were hit the hardest through the recession. I am proud to announce that ACCION USA will be playing an important role on this program and that we are positioned to assist in 7 of those 10 markets. However, without the collaboration of civic leaders, local economic development groups and technical assistance providers who have the trust and access to talented but unsung entrepreneurs, our ability to succeed is limited.
If it takes a village to raise a child, then it will take a community of interested stakeholders to ensure access to capital for needy entrepreneurs. Please do not keep this a secret—pass it along, and know that doing so increases the chances of funding big dreams through small loans for thousands of entrepreneurs across the country.
Also don’t forget to WATCH LIVE as President Clinton announces the launch of Kiva City today at 1:00p.m. EST