Gabriel Villarreal of Opportunity Fund (a Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights founder) sat down with Wendy K. Baumann, President/CVO of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC). The organization has been a signatory of the BBoR since 2016.
 
The Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) has been part of the community and economic development space in the Midwest for over thirty years. The organization got its start by focusing on and supporting women-owned businesses, and since then it has expanded the scope of its mission to serving all underserved entrepreneurs, “…who face barriers in accessing traditional financing or resources in pursuit of their dreams and economic well-being.”
 
In this drive to serve their community, WWBIC is undoubtedly succeeding. Since its start in 1987, WWBIC has loaned out more than $60 million to small business owners, created and retained nearly ten-thousand jobs in Wisconsin, and supported more than fifty-five thousand clients. As WWBIC’s President for more than 24 years, Wendy Baumann has seen this growth and success first-hand. “We came out of the women’s economic empowerment movement and we came out of the microlending movement,” says Wendy, “From day one we were providing quality business education coupled with fair and responsible capital.” This was something unique about WWBIC at the time, as many organizations focused on either providing capital or providing business development support. “The focus remains on where there is an unlevel playing field and where we see inequity,” says Wendy. New growth initiatives also encompass veteran-owned small business and families as well as citizens re-entering society from incarceration. “Our focus is and really has been women, minorities, and lower-wealth individuals.”
 
Expanding its breadth and reach is WWBIC’s next big step, growing to encompass not just urban centers like Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, and Kenosha, but large swathes of Wisconsin’s rural communities as well with four offices all across the state. “About 25% of our clients are rural,” says Wendy, and they have plans to increase this expansion. “There’s not a lot of folks lending and operating in rural communities. We also offer our trainings and materials in Spanish so we’re reaching another hugely underserved market there.” WWBIC has also seen the potential for technology to transform the way that they can deliver high quality technical support to their clients, “We do place-based trainings, classes with a facilitator and a peer-to-peer connection, because those in-person community connections are so important. But we’ve also expanded to online and on-demand services to fit the needs of busy entrepreneurs. Through our online portals we offer classes and units in marketing and business planning, and then we pair that with in-person counseling to fit the specific needs of our clients.”
 
In terms of supporting the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights (BBoR), Wendy had this to say, “Immediately I really just loved the concept of a Bill of Rights. It’s something that can withstand the test of time and people can understand it from many different perspectives.” The versatility of the BBoR as a platform for further change also spoke to her, “From public funding sources, private funding sources, to the businesses themselves, these are the rights we need to preserve around access to capital and for small business owners. I think it can hold the industry together, it’s a rallying piece that can be used in numerous positive ways.”
 
For over 30 years WWBIC has served the underserved in the state of Wisconsin, embodying the spirit and the principles of the BBoR in its drive to support small business owners and allow the small business economy to thrive.
We thank WWBIC for taking the time to talk with us about their business development work and the importance of the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights in the small business lending Industry. 
 
If you are interested in learning more about the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights please email info@borrowersbillofrights.org.
 
If your organization is currently a signatory or endorser of the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights and would like to be featured in our blog, please contact Gabriel at Gabriel@opportunityfund.org.

Gabriel Villarreal of Opportunity Fund (a Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights founder) sat down with Ron Fong, Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program (APISBP). The organization was an original endorser of the BBoR.
 
In Los Angeles, the vitality of the small business economy is intertwined with its history of robust immigration. At the intersection of several different Asian-ethnic enclaves in downtown LA, you will find the Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program (APISBP). Founded in 1999 as a collaborative of five community organizations -- the Chinatown Service Center, Koreatown Youth & Community Center, Little Tokyo Service Center CDC, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, and the Thai Community Development Center -- APISBP seeks to assist the development of small and micro businesses in LA with a particular focus on the Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai and Filipino business communities, with a special focus on low-income immigrants.
 
Ron Fong, APISBP’s Executive Director, came on board in 2010, continuing the organization’s mission of serving Asian and Pacific Islander (API) small business owners. The organization focuses specifically on technical assistance and business development, capitalizing on the cultural knowledge of each of APISBP’s partner organizations. “Our business counselors are based within our partner organizations so they can focus their work on a particular community,” says Ron, “For example, in Koreatown we have a Korean speaking business councilor at KYCC who can provide culturally and linguistically appropriate business assistance within easy access to main ethnic commercial corridors.” This kind of tailored support is available in each of the ethnic enclaves that APISBP serves.
 
In terms of why these services are essential, “A lot of these folks come here to learn a business and start their own business. That’s how these families and these communities pursue their dreams and accumulate wealth, taking advantage of opportunities that might not be available in their home countries. That takes entrepreneurship,” states Ron. “However, an overriding need is overcoming language barriers. It’s not unusual for a bank or public agency to put communications out in Spanish or Chinese, but you rarely see anything available in Japanese or Thai. It’s being able to help our clients overcome those linguistic and cultural barriers in order to start and grow their businesses.”
 
Different API communities also often have specific knowledge about a particular business type. “In LA County,” says Ron, “about 80% of the donut shops are Cambodian-owned.” This allows these communities to support each other, raise capital, and teach new immigrant members how to support themselves and their families via these specific businesses, “Knowledge in specific sectors can be very high, which lowers barriers to entry” says Ron. However, even with this knowledge and the business development support that APISBP offers, API small business owners still face barriers in accessing responsible business credit, some communities even going so far as to start their own community banks in order to source capital. While APISBP works with several small business lenders, “Access to capital is still a huge issue,” says Ron, some difficulties have arisen with online lending. “Some of our clients, like other small business owners, find it challenging to gather all their materials, sit down with a banker, and then wait weeks for a response.” This has led some of their clients to take out loans from high-cost online lenders who offer financing in unfamiliar terms with extremely high interest rates.
 
To Ron, this is the necessity of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights, “Just imagine having to deal with any kind of loan docs if you don’t even understand that language. We’ve always felt that there needed to be greater clarity and transparency around the lending process, so the Borrower’s Bill of Rights is just a natural for us to support.” 
 
We thank APISBP for taking the time to talk with us about their business development work and the importance of the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights in the small business lending Industry. 
 
If you are interested in learning more about the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights please email info@borrowersbillofrights.org.
 
If your organization is currently a signatory or endorser of the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights and would like to be featured in our blog, please contact Gabriel at Gabriel@opportunityfund.org.
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