Innovative Ways Women Entrepreneurs Can Gain Access to Capital

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Capital is pivotal for the success of any entrepreneur to launch a sustainable and lucrative business. Traditional routes of access to capital are changing as technological development creates new avenues, and the distance between entrepreneur and investor decreases due to an increase in fast and efficient communication. 

Women entrepreneurs have notoriously faced hardships in gaining access to capital, from lack of information and resources and local and state government assistance, to facing cultural biases from investors. A 2014 report by the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship states women business owners received 16 percent of small business loans and 17 percent of loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

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Small Business Optimism Highest Since 1983

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According to the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, small business optimism reached a level of 107.5 in November 2017, a hike from 103.8 a month before and a level that hasn’t been reached since 1983. Moreover, eight of the 10 components NFIB measures as part of the index also increased; notably, “Expected Better Business Conditions” had a 16-point gain, and “Sales Expectations” rose by 13 points.

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Celebrate National Veterans Small Business Week!

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National Veterans Small Business Week (NVSBW) is dedicated to celebrating veteran, service member, National Guard and Reserve members, and military spouse entrepreneurs from October 30 – November 3, 2017. Throughout the week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), alongside SBA district offices, resource partners and communities around the country, will host local and virtual events centered on “access to capital, federal and commercial procurement opportunities, and entrepreneurial training.”

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SBA Lending Grows in 2017

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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced that its small business lending activity displayed consistent growth in fiscal year 2017. In FY2017, the SBA approved over 68,000 loans in the 7(A) and 504 loan programs—providing $30 billion to small businesses—and increased lending to women, veterans and emerging communities alike.

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Google and Amazon the Next Big Small Business Lenders?

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Google and Amazon could shake up the small business lending market and dislocate banks as entrepreneurs’ primary funding resource, according to a discussion led by Karen Mills, Harvard Business School Fellow and former White House administrator for small businesses, at LendIt Europe 2017.

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SBA Releases New Small Business Lending Tool

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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has launched a new lending tool helping connect small businesses and lenders. The new tool, Lender Match, connects entrepreneurs to over 800 SBA lenders in an effort to increase access to capital. The program is an upgrade to LINC (Leveraging Information and Networks to access Capital), which was introduced as a pilot in 2015.

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Financial CHOICE Act of 2017: What does the future hold for consumers and entrepreneurs?

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On Wednesday, the Financial Services Committee (FSC) held the “A Legislative Proposal to Create Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers, and Entrepreneurs” hearing on the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017. The bill’s objective is stated in its discussion draft as, “To create hope and opportunity for investors, consumers, and entrepreneurs by ending bailouts and Too Big to Fail, holding Washington and Wall Street accountable, eliminating red tape to increase access to capital and credit, and repealing the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act that make America less prosperous, less stable, and less free, and for other purposes.”

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Initiative Boosts Los Angeles and Baltimore Small Businesses

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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Milken Institute are partnering to help increase minority lending in Baltimore and Los Angeles. The Partnership for Lending in Underserved Markets (PLUM) Initiative is a pioneering project that will “develop and test initiatives designed to more effectively provide capital to minority-owned businesses throughout the United States.”

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