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
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 and Samuel Adams Brew Excitement in Hartford, CT
The Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Program, a partnership between ACCION USA and Samuel Adams is brewing excitement in cities throughout New England. After hosting a number of speed coaching events in Boston and Providence, I was wondering how much interest an evening of speed coaching could drum up in the Hartford area. Let’s just say I was not left disappointed.
On Monday evening, ACCION USA and Samuel Adams staff traveled to Billings Forge Community Works, an organization making a splash in the Frog Hollow community through job training and education courses. Nearly 50 people with small food & beverage and hospitality businesses attended to rotate through 20-minute sessions with Samuel Adams experts in marketing & public relations, logo design, packaging, sales and distribution, along with local business development coaches, attorneys and accountants.
The room was hardly able to contain the energy, as entrepreneurs soaked up valuable tips from coaches and networked with one another. Clearly there is a demand for these kinds of opportunities in a city like Hartford, where small businesses are looking for ways in today’s economy to, as one participant put it in a recent article in the Hartford Courant , “get a better sense of how [to] take [the] business from point A to point B.” I was inspired to see the dedication and enthusiasm with which businesses like Southern Relishes (who participated in Monday night’s speed coaching) seek to further establish and grow their businesses, having a positive impact in their local communities.
How wonderful it is for ACCION USA and Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream to provide a space that can help pave the way for entrepreneurial success.
Live, Love, Lend
This guest post comes from Boston staff member Melissa Roberts…
Thursday night, Kiva held its very first lenders party in Boston with the spectacular tag-line “Live. Love. Lend.” ACCION USA, is one of only two Kiva partner 
organizations in the United States, and we dared not miss the event. Our Boston-based team bundled up and trekked through the unusually bitter weather to support micro-entrepreneurs.
Lenders, supporters, and curious minds gathered at the Mexican-Irish fusion pub Jose McIntyre’s. While the DJ spun hot beats, the true star of the night was ACCION USA borrower Doracy, owner of Dore’s Boutique in Fall River, MA, who had received her loan through our Kiva loan program. Before coming to ACCION USA, Doracy had tried to find a small loan through traditional venues, but was unable to get the small boost of capital she needed to stock her store’s shelves for the holiday season.
A splendid time was had, and much to our delight Jose McIntyre’s was not only serving Sam Adams Boston Brick Red, sales of which benefit ACCION USA’s Sam Adams Brewing the American Dream Loan Fund, but promoting it with coasters strewn all over the bar!
The simplicity of the event got me thinking: a group of people, all passionate about a cause can get together and support microfinance by doing something commonplace. We all gather with friends at bars and purchase beer to enjoy. Now, organizations like Kiva and Sam Adams are putting a socially conscious spin on these activities by linking them to microfinance!
I know that I, for one, will be more conscious about supporting small businesses as I go about my daily life, because being part of something bigger is thrilling.
I’ll sign out with a word to the wise: Live. Love. LEND! (And drink Sam Adams responsibly!)
Tags: jose mcintyres, kiva, live love lend, Sam Adams
Who Is Lucy Valena and Why Does She Rock Our Socks Off?
It seems like everybody’s talking about Lucy Valena these days.
And I’m no exception.
Lucy Valena started making a splash right away when we met her in September 2008. From the start, each AUSAer she spoke with felt her (caffeinated?) energy/excitement and recognized her determination, especially as she moved quickly through the loan process. Our $4,000 loan allowed her to purchase the equipment to launch her mobile espresso catering business, Voltage Coffee, an idea brewed from her barista days in Seattle and lifelong love of espresso.
Right after her business opened and the foam started flowing, the notes in our internal communication system show something different than your daily roast variety of comment strings. In December, Sherri, one of our illustrious loan officers, called to congratulate Lucy on the article about Voltage Coffee in the Boston Globe. Most recently the Boston lending team gathered around a computer screen to watch Lucy in a nationally televised CNN clip.
One Small Business Loan Disbursed, 27.2 Million to Go
Risa Sherman, a consultant for Samuel Adams/ the Boston Beer Co., our delicious corporate partner for Brewing the American Dream, hit the bull’s eye in her post about Lucy’s success:
Lucy is an example of the amazing spirit of small business heroes who put it all on the line every day in dedication to their craft. She is representative of the many independent, small business owners who are the faces of Main Street America. Her business and her life are so inextricably intertwined – the success of one is synonymous with the stability of the other. ~ Risa Sherman on Causenation.com
This is evident from Lucy’s own words, given in a speech just last year:
This summer, the time I wasn’t working my day job or sleeping was mostly divided between writing my business plan and research and development. I crunched numbers, wrote and rewrote until my ideas made sense, and conducted experiments with espresso and an assortment of random ingredients in hopes of finding tasty combinations. When my business plan was finally finished, I went to the SBA and met with a representative from SCORE to discuss what I should do next. I needed a loan, but because of my age I am not exactly the first person an average bank would hand cash to, even back in August. The business councilor at the SBA literally read my entire business plan cover to cover (while I squirmed in my seat), and afterwards suggested ACCION as a good place to start. (Read the full speech on Risa’s blog)
Lucy’s struggles and successes stand as one story that gets repeated every day through out the US since 27.2 million people run their own small business (SCORE) If you know somebody running a business or looking to start one, let them know about us! You never know if your favorite coffee shop’s bank just increased their minimum credit score by 50 points.
p.s. This is just cool: The Latte Zoo (Thanks Boston Food Monkey!)
Tags: CNN, coffee, entrepreneur, Sam Adams, small business