On the heels of several historic business announcements over the past couple of weeks — an $85 million dollar commitment from Fifth Third Bank which will move its regional offices to One Woodward Ave., and the opening of a 4,000 sq. foot retail store at 1500 Woodward — comes more good news for the City of Detroit.
Business leader Louis Green and Mayor Mike Duggan announced the groundbreaking venture in a joint press conference at 100 River Place Dr.
The Minority Business Access Fund will provide $100 million annually in liquidity assistance to small and medium sized businesses throughout Southeast Michigan. Existing minority businesses will have the opportunity to expand their businesses to compete on statewide, and even national levels.
The MBAF is designed to assist businesses with capital building and cash flow needs, rather then simply pumping equity into a company. Funds are allocated based on contract financing, receivables financing, export financing and trade financing. It is created by a coalition of leaders who understand that capitalism is a fundamental ingredient towards equality.
MBAF is the brainchild of Louis Green, the incoming CEO of Supplier Success. Green worked with a coalition of business and civic leaders committed to MOE and WOE development. And while the fund is open to all businesses, the focus of the fund is to assist minority businesses, particularly, those involved with major civic and infrastructure projects in Detroit such as the M1-Rail, the Red Wings Hockey Arena and the city’s Entertainment District.
Detroit is home to approximately 32 thousand black business, 90 percent of which operate with only one to five employees at a given time. The MBAF will allow these business to be more aggressive in gaining capitol while opening avenues to hire more people in the community.
According to the U.S Small Business Administration, minority entrepreneurs are much less likely to apply for a loan fearing that they are far less likely to have their loan applications approved compared to their non-minority counterparts. Businesses can receive a minimum of 100k to a maximum of 20 million with interest rates at or below traditional banks. The funds will be allocated by a full time local loan officer employed by The Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council that will help MBE’s gain access to capitol from this fund as well as other financing sources.
It’s Shark Tank come to Detroit!
Visit https://minoritysupplier.org/mbafund/ for more information
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