In this excellent episode, Nancy and Jose are joined in studio by Elizabeth Schott, the CEO of Accessity, a 30 year old organization which provides much needed capital to both start-up and established businesses. The CEO for nine years, Elizabeth leads a team with an incredible mission to open doors of financial opportunity to those historically with less access to capital and business support - entrepreneurs of color, women, immigrant, and low-to-moderate income entrepreneurs - so they can build a prosperous business and livelihood for themselves and their families, while also strengthening our communities.
And since you can't spell Accessity without the word access, just what kind of access does Accessity provide? Everything from knowledge, know how and training to mentoring, financial support services and, of course, capital! Whether the need is a loan for $300 or $100,000, Accessity, a non-profit Community Development Financial Institution, has funded over $60 million since inception, representing over 2,000 businesses!
An excellent episode on financing and small business entrepreneurship with Elizabeth Schott. Here are some other takeaways from the interview:
- Why character based lending is an integral part of funding from Accessity
- The systemic barriers - which still exist - for many when looking to start a business
- The social equity component to the mission of Accessity
- The answers to the Rapid Fire questions!
A great interview from an excellent gap minder who is lifting businesses every single day. Thank you, Elizabeth, for your contributions in helping build the fabric of the small business community in San Diego, and for joining us on The Gap Minders.
Enjoy this episode and be sure to subscribe to the show.
If you have any questions or want to contact Nancy or Jose, please send an email to podcast@uwsd.org. Thank you for listening.
To learn more about the two social impact organizations making The Gap Minders possible, please visit www.TheGapMinders.org.
