Most businesses need financial
opportunity assistance to help with expenses and startup cost when starting a
business. Guy Kawasaki, the chief
evangelist of Canva and brand ambassador for Mercedes Benz USA, stated about
30 million businesses are funded each year and about 3,000 businesses get
funded in venture
capital, but this decision to fund is made within the first 5, 10, or 15
seconds of the presentation. With this number of businesses receiving financial
funding, a startup business must be aware where to obtain funding. One way to
take advantage of such financial opportunities is through the National Community Investment Fund (NCIF). The
NCIF is the largest
investor with investments in 15% of all certified CDFI Banks, has $228
million of assets under management, and has $206 million in New Markets Tax
Credit allocations.
Another way to receive funding is
through the U.S. Economic Development
Administration (EDA). The mission of the EDA is to promote innovation and competitiveness while
preparing American regions for growth internationally. The economic regional
office structure of the EDA consists of Seattle, Denver, Austin, Chicago,
Atlanta, and Philadelphia. This federal government agency focus is on economic
development and works with local economic development offices to make grant investments for an economic
development strategy for eligible businesses.
In order to receive funding from the NCIF
and/or the EDA, there are some requirements of a business applying for funding.
Some of the qualifications
of the NCIF to fund a business include:
·
Having
effective organizational leadership
·
Showing
substantial commitment to business in under served communities
·
Creating
a strong financial and social returns expectation for all stakeholders and
investors
·
Creating
an expectation of providing liquidity within a reasonable time period, and
·
Aligning with NCIF’s mission and willing
to work as mutual reinforcing partner.
The
qualifications of the
EDA include:
1.
Collaborative
Regional Innovation
2.
Public/Private
Partnerships
3.
National
Strategic Priorities
4.
Global
Competitiveness
5.
Environmentally-Sustainable
Development, and
6. Economically
Distressed and Under Served Communities.
Other
types of information available include 24 participating institutions, research
and industry data information, case studies, and tools for economic
development. The advantage to meeting these qualifications helps a business not
only to service in the United States, but also globally. The disadvantage would
involve a small business who did not envision expanding beyond the United
States and have to restructure or seek funding from another source.
