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Capital Growth Session I: Is Your Business Bankable?
January 22, 2021 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am CST
Capital access and growth are long-standing pain points of minority-owned businesses across the nation and in the Greater New Orleans (GNO) region. Minority-owned businesses, consequentially, have been disproportionately affected during the current economic downturn. As such, Greater New Orleans, Inc. (GNO, Inc.) and the Urban League of Louisiana (ULLA) will co-host a series of virtual discussions to dissect opportunities for minority-owned small businesses to increase their ability to access capital and to create viable, sustainable ventures that create generational wealth.
In order to build scalable, profitable, and sustainable businesses, minority entrepreneurs must be able to access the necessary funding to increase capacity, integrate technology into their operations, and to implement growth strategies that meet the changing needs of their existing and potential customers.
However, based on data from the Brookings Institute, large banks approve around 60% of loans sought by white small-business owners, 50% of those sought by Hispanic or Latinx small-business owners, and just 29% of those sought by Black small-business owners. In addition, data from McKinsey & Co. shows that only 1% of Black business owners get a bank loan in their first year of business, compared with 7% of white business owners.
During this session, representatives from national and local banks will discuss credit policies/standards, what steps their organizations are taking to reach and fund minority-owned small businesses, and immediate actions that businesses can take to become “bankable.”
Panelists include:
Kathy Saloy, Vice President, Community Development, Hope Credit Union
Brandon Nelson, Vice President, Commercial Leading, Hancock Whitney
Tish Sauerhoff, Manager of Special Projects, Gulf Coast Bank & Trust
Amie Barton, SBA Lending Specialist, Commercial Banking, Regions Bank, SLA
Moderator: Klassi Duncan, Vice President, CEI, ULLA
There is no cost to attend this session, however, registration is required.