Minnesota Coffee Shop Creates a Buzz
Entrepreneur Fund is an SBA Microloan intermediary headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota and an active member of the Friends of the SBA Microloan Program. The organization actively partners with entrepreneurs to stimulate the growth of successful businesses in Aitkin, Benton, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Crow Wing, Itasca, Kanabec, Koochiching, Lake, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, St. Louis, Stearns and Todd Counties in Minnesota and Douglas County in Wisconsin. Since its founding in 1989, the Entrepreneur Fund has fueled more than 14,000 businesses with expert support and funded over $48 million in loans.. Duluth Coffee Company is one of those successful businesses that Entrepreneur Fund has helped expand from an idea to a bustling foray into the coffee business, and finally helping the business to become the outstanding and thriving coffee shop and distributor that it is today. Entrepreneur Fund shared information on their work with Duluth Coffee Company’s founder, Eric Faust. Entrepreneur Fund…
ACE Helps Businesses Launch and Thrive in Georgia
Since 2000, Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE) has helped over 900 small businesses start and grow in Georgia, made more than $60 million in loans and helped create/retain nearly 8,000 jobs. ACE, a longtime member of the Friends, is focused on assisting small-business owners of color, women, low-income entrepreneurs and others who lack equitable access to small-business financing across the Georgia market. Recently, ACE was named as Mission Based Lender of the Year for the 3rd year in a row by the SBA Georgia District Office. ACE is consistently the number one SBA microlender in the state and look forward to continuing to provide loans and business development resources to help Georgia’s small business owners create and grow sustainable businesses which generate jobs. Throughout Georgia in 2018, ACE made 100 loans totaling $11.1 million that created 529 new jobs and helped retain 271. Some of these loans were made…
Friends Member CEF Receives Jody C. Raskind Award for 2019 Microlender of the Year
National Small Business Week kicked off yesterday with an awards event hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The ceremony featured the Jody C. Raskind Award for the 2019 Microlender of Year. This year’s award went to the Colorado Enterprise Fund (CEF), a longtime member of the Friends of the SBA Microloan Program. CEF was one of the first 35 nonprofit intermediaries selected for the SBA Microloan Program in 1992. Since then, CEF has dispersed 1,457 Microloans totaling $18.5 million, which has helped create/retain 3,038 jobs. In fiscal year 2018, CEF dispersed 111 SBA Microloans totaling $1.8 million, and creating/retaining 445 jobs. Jody C. Raskind led the SBA’s Office of Microlending for many years and was well-known for her commitment and dedication to small businesses, particularly in underserved areas. Ms. Raskind died in 2014 and the award was established in her memory. The first award was presented in 2015…