Gabriel Villarreal of Opportunity Fund (a Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights founder) got the chance to sit down with Lisa Mensah, President and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network. OFN has been a signatory of the Small Business Borrowers Bill of Rights (BBoR) since 2017.
Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) has been one of the nation’s leading associations of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) since 1984. Small business support and small business lending is a large part of what CDFIs do - about 60% of the nation’s CDFIs provide loans to small businesses. Responsible for coordinating nation-wide initiatives on behalf of its member CDFIs, OFN, “shapes policy, conducts research, and creates partnership and programs that help our Members deliver high impact in financially stressed communities.” Lisa Mensah joined the organization as its new President and CEO in March 2017. As former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development and as former founding Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Initiative on Financial Security, Lisa has a deep understanding of the challenges facing both urban and rural communities in terms of access to capital and lack of long-term sustainable investments
When it comes to the importance of small businesses in the larger society, Lisa sees small businesses not just as fantastic drivers of job creation but also as vibrant and essential contributors to social mobility. “Many of us will at some point work for a small business and for some of us, small business generates personal wealth and assets. Not every business succeeds that way but that’s a big chunk of the American Dream. It’s the ability to create a business that can employ your neighbors, provide a service that consumers want, and that allows you to provide for you, your family, and the next generation.”
CDFIs play a critical role in supporting the small business community. Lisa goes on to say that, “…we have been gap fillers… one of the important roles that CDFIs have played in small business lending is the ‘Capital-plus’, and it’s the -plus side that many of our CDFIs do. It’s added technical support, added time, things that make the financing work. That’s a special part of the sauce that CDFIs bring to small businesses.”
When it comes to the small business lending market, Lisa acknowledges that there are major challenges that small business owners face. As access to capital has become constrained from larger financial institutions, innovation has driven the development of new financial solutions in the form of easy to access capital from alternative lenders, some of which comes at a very high cost. As a response, OFN developed the platform Venturize as both an educational and business planning tool. With Venturize, small business owners can learn about different types of business loans conventionally available and find the products that match well with their needs and credit capacity.
Lisa underlines the importance of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights (BBoR), “For the business owner, sure there are more options… this doesn’t always mean that you will be in a better place with this financing. We really do need this Borrower’s Bill of Rights so that people can find fair lenders and those of us that are fair lenders can be more competitive within this market…”
This dedication to fairness and transparency translates not only in OFN’s support of the BBOR and its CDFI members, but in its challenge to the CDFI and small business lending industry to keep growing and providing financial support for everyday Americans.
As OFN’s new President and CEO, Lisa’s dedication to small businesses and the people that run them is clear. “Our conviction,” she states, “is that within a changing world, what’s important is not whether you get your loan from a credit union or a community bank or an online lender, but whether you got a product that as a business owner works for you. And that’s what this Bill of Rights calls for.”
We thank Opportunity Finance Network for taking the time to talk with us about their work with CDFIs 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 info@responsiblebusinesslending.org.
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 Gabriel@opportunityfund.org.
Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) has been one of the nation’s leading associations of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) since 1984. Small business support and small business lending is a large part of what CDFIs do - about 60% of the nation’s CDFIs provide loans to small businesses. Responsible for coordinating nation-wide initiatives on behalf of its member CDFIs, OFN, “shapes policy, conducts research, and creates partnership and programs that help our Members deliver high impact in financially stressed communities.” Lisa Mensah joined the organization as its new President and CEO in March 2017. As former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development and as former founding Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Initiative on Financial Security, Lisa has a deep understanding of the challenges facing both urban and rural communities in terms of access to capital and lack of long-term sustainable investments
When it comes to the importance of small businesses in the larger society, Lisa sees small businesses not just as fantastic drivers of job creation but also as vibrant and essential contributors to social mobility. “Many of us will at some point work for a small business and for some of us, small business generates personal wealth and assets. Not every business succeeds that way but that’s a big chunk of the American Dream. It’s the ability to create a business that can employ your neighbors, provide a service that consumers want, and that allows you to provide for you, your family, and the next generation.”
CDFIs play a critical role in supporting the small business community. Lisa goes on to say that, “…we have been gap fillers… one of the important roles that CDFIs have played in small business lending is the ‘Capital-plus’, and it’s the -plus side that many of our CDFIs do. It’s added technical support, added time, things that make the financing work. That’s a special part of the sauce that CDFIs bring to small businesses.”
When it comes to the small business lending market, Lisa acknowledges that there are major challenges that small business owners face. As access to capital has become constrained from larger financial institutions, innovation has driven the development of new financial solutions in the form of easy to access capital from alternative lenders, some of which comes at a very high cost. As a response, OFN developed the platform Venturize as both an educational and business planning tool. With Venturize, small business owners can learn about different types of business loans conventionally available and find the products that match well with their needs and credit capacity.
Lisa underlines the importance of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights (BBoR), “For the business owner, sure there are more options… this doesn’t always mean that you will be in a better place with this financing. We really do need this Borrower’s Bill of Rights so that people can find fair lenders and those of us that are fair lenders can be more competitive within this market…”
This dedication to fairness and transparency translates not only in OFN’s support of the BBOR and its CDFI members, but in its challenge to the CDFI and small business lending industry to keep growing and providing financial support for everyday Americans.
As OFN’s new President and CEO, Lisa’s dedication to small businesses and the people that run them is clear. “Our conviction,” she states, “is that within a changing world, what’s important is not whether you get your loan from a credit union or a community bank or an online lender, but whether you got a product that as a business owner works for you. And that’s what this Bill of Rights calls for.”
We thank Opportunity Finance Network for taking the time to talk with us about their work with CDFIs 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 info@responsiblebusinesslending.org.
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 Gabriel@opportunityfund.org.
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