Gabriel Villarreal of Opportunity Fund (a Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights founder) got the chance to sit down with Heidi Pickman, Communications and Policy Manager at the California Association of Microenterprise Opportunity (CAMEO) . CAMEO has been an endorser of the Small Business Borrowers Bill of Rights since 2015.
CAMEO is a small but mighty team of passionate small business advocates that have been advancing the causes and interests of microenterprises and entrepreneurs since 1993. A California based statewide micro-business network and membership association, CAMEO is made up of over 220 organizations, agencies, and individuals. Their mission? To grow a healthy, vibrant, and thriving environment for all entrepreneurs and start-up businesses by advancing the work of their statewide member organizations. Their vision? To create economic opportunity for all entrepreneurs and to build strong California communities.
CAMEO first heard of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights through their small business advocacy work. CAMEO worked closely with Opportunity Fund, a founding member of the Rights, on state legislation that would make it easier for small business lenders to pay referral fees to non-profits for clients sent their way, thus easing access to responsible, affordable capital. As a comprehensive resource for small and micro-businesses CAMEO had been watching the growth of the online lending industry with both hope and caution. They saw both potential positive outcomes and potential negative consequences. When the opportunity to become an endorser of the Rights came along, Heidi recalls, “We immediately signed on because it was sort-of a no brainer and we decided that people needed to have good information about what loans they’re getting. [Online lending] is happening and this is going to be a big shift in the way that things are done, and we need to make sure our members have an awareness of it.”
In terms of the culture within their membership network at the time, Heidi reflected that they saw “A lot of resistance to automating people’s lending process, but I think we’ve turned that corner. People have realized they have to do some kind of automating.” Heidi went on to talk about both the costs and benefits of online lending and how it seems that the industry has indeed made a shift and entered the mainstream. The focus now is to make sure that small business borrowers, particularly borrowers from vulnerable communities have the information and the education to know the terms and risks of the loan that they are getting.
Given this passion for addressing and serving the needs of small businesses, we asked Heidi what was so essential about small businesses being a part of California’s economy. In response, she said “Small businesses and local businesses are what makes place and what makes a community. They form the basis of a community, or else you are living in the Truman Show where everything is sort of fabricated and made up for you… The stronger your local businesses the stronger your local community is.” One of Heidi’s favorite success stories that CAMEO has been able to facilitate is that of a small taqueria in Watsonville, owned by a family of agricultural workers with a special needs child. They started with a farmers market stand and then opened a brick and mortar, eventually expanding to a second location with the help of business assistance from El Pajaro Community Development Corp,, a CAMEO member. “The family has defined their own success and are able to take care of their family without doing backbreaking work,” says Heidi.
This is the power of small businesses, to define and create success for an individual, a family, and a community. CAMEO has been supporting this success all over California and the nation for over two decades by advocating for common sense small business policies and a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem in California and Washington DC. CAMEO understands the connection between small business success and public policy, and is here to make sure that entrepreneurs can thrive.
We thank CAMEO for taking the time to talk with us about their advocacy work and the importance of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights in the small business lending Industry.
If you are interested in learning more about the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights please email [email protected].
If your organization is currently a signatory or endorser of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights and would like to be featured in our blog, please contact Gabriel at [email protected].
CAMEO is a small but mighty team of passionate small business advocates that have been advancing the causes and interests of microenterprises and entrepreneurs since 1993. A California based statewide micro-business network and membership association, CAMEO is made up of over 220 organizations, agencies, and individuals. Their mission? To grow a healthy, vibrant, and thriving environment for all entrepreneurs and start-up businesses by advancing the work of their statewide member organizations. Their vision? To create economic opportunity for all entrepreneurs and to build strong California communities.
CAMEO first heard of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights through their small business advocacy work. CAMEO worked closely with Opportunity Fund, a founding member of the Rights, on state legislation that would make it easier for small business lenders to pay referral fees to non-profits for clients sent their way, thus easing access to responsible, affordable capital. As a comprehensive resource for small and micro-businesses CAMEO had been watching the growth of the online lending industry with both hope and caution. They saw both potential positive outcomes and potential negative consequences. When the opportunity to become an endorser of the Rights came along, Heidi recalls, “We immediately signed on because it was sort-of a no brainer and we decided that people needed to have good information about what loans they’re getting. [Online lending] is happening and this is going to be a big shift in the way that things are done, and we need to make sure our members have an awareness of it.”
In terms of the culture within their membership network at the time, Heidi reflected that they saw “A lot of resistance to automating people’s lending process, but I think we’ve turned that corner. People have realized they have to do some kind of automating.” Heidi went on to talk about both the costs and benefits of online lending and how it seems that the industry has indeed made a shift and entered the mainstream. The focus now is to make sure that small business borrowers, particularly borrowers from vulnerable communities have the information and the education to know the terms and risks of the loan that they are getting.
Given this passion for addressing and serving the needs of small businesses, we asked Heidi what was so essential about small businesses being a part of California’s economy. In response, she said “Small businesses and local businesses are what makes place and what makes a community. They form the basis of a community, or else you are living in the Truman Show where everything is sort of fabricated and made up for you… The stronger your local businesses the stronger your local community is.” One of Heidi’s favorite success stories that CAMEO has been able to facilitate is that of a small taqueria in Watsonville, owned by a family of agricultural workers with a special needs child. They started with a farmers market stand and then opened a brick and mortar, eventually expanding to a second location with the help of business assistance from El Pajaro Community Development Corp,, a CAMEO member. “The family has defined their own success and are able to take care of their family without doing backbreaking work,” says Heidi.
This is the power of small businesses, to define and create success for an individual, a family, and a community. CAMEO has been supporting this success all over California and the nation for over two decades by advocating for common sense small business policies and a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem in California and Washington DC. CAMEO understands the connection between small business success and public policy, and is here to make sure that entrepreneurs can thrive.
We thank CAMEO for taking the time to talk with us about their advocacy work and the importance of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights in the small business lending Industry.
If you are interested in learning more about the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights please email [email protected].
If your organization is currently a signatory or endorser of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights and would like to be featured in our blog, please contact Gabriel at [email protected].
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