By Kayla Jones, manager, GoATL Economic Inclusion Fund and Sydney Hulebak, impact investment manager, GoATL Community Capacity Fund, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
Imagine you’re a small business owner here in Georgia. Business is going well, and your customers are happy. Because of the increased demand, you realize you need some help. You’ve added new employees to the team and hope to expand to a bigger office space. Your current office is too small to fit your growing team. There’s a new office space that you are interested in moving to, but you know you need some funding to support purchasing it. You begin doing some research about different business loans, especially those that cater to marginalized entrepreneurs. You believe that the new office space can be a reality and you just need the right help.
The GoATL Fund, the impact-investing arm of the Community Foundation for Greater AtlantaCommunity Foundation for Greater Atlanta, is launching a new platform called GoGeorgia Capital to provide that help. GoGeorgia Capital simplifies and improves the process to connect marginalized small business owners across Georgia to mission-focused capital that best fits their strategic needs.
GoGeorgia Capital gives small business owners access to multiple loan programs for funding the growth needs of small business. Applicants can access loans for capital expenditures, working capital, facilities expansion, personnel investments and many other growth needs, as well as technical assistance services.
The- platform, powered by Community Reinvestment Fund’s Connect2Capital tool, is a strategic partnership with a variety of mission-aligned lenders from around the state, including Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE), Albany Community Together (ACT!), Black Business Investment Fund (BBIF), LiftFund, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and TruFund.
The effort stemmed from the creation of GoATL’s new Economic Inclusion Fund (GEI Fund), which launched in early 2023. The GEI Fund is designed to provide growth capital for small businesses that struggle to access funding, especially those owned by Black, indigenous, or people of color, or by marginalized owners who are not ready for bank or Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) capital. In order to support inclusive access to capital, as well as provide pipeline for the GEI Fund and other partner lenders, GoATL helped facilitate the development of GoGeorgia Capital to connect entrepreneurs with capital across Georgia.
The GEI Fund also builds the entrepreneur support ecosystem by working with business leaders who offer mentorship, coaching and technical assistance programming to marginalized entrepreneurs. Partners like Zane Access, Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative and Goodie Nation play instrumental roles in connecting the GEI Fund to Black and other entrepreneurs of color seeking growth capital.
“GoATL has been a valuable strategic partner for Zane Access. The GEI Fund’s goal to provide low-cost loans for small businesses and entrepreneurs perfectly aligns with Zane’s mission to help Black, Brown- and other marginalized people secure access to funding,” said Shila Nieves Burney, founder, and CEO of Zane Venture Fund and the nonprofit Zane Access.
When asked about the importance of GoGeorgia Capital, Thelma Adams Johnson, president and CEO of ACT! shared, “In this age of doing business, the internet is the first resource for information. By participating in GoGeorgia Capital, we are increasing our chances of being in the right place for that business owner to connect to the right resource. As a mission-driven lender, it is important that we have multiple access points to reach our clients, and GoGeorgia Capital provides that opportunity, meeting the clients where they are.”
GoGeorgia Capital is open to any business or nonprofit organization that is operational in Georgia, has at least one full-time employee and already has (or is in the process of securing) a business license. It is a personal, equitable approach to lending, because business owners are more than just numbers on a spreadsheet. For more information, visit https://gogeorgiacapital.org/.
It’s great when there are such institutions where you can take out a loan for your business at low interest rates, and if they also give you a loan to open a new business without interest for a while, while the business has not yet unwinded and does not earn for itself, then it would be great. And then a friend of mine took a loan for a small business, he didn’t earn money yet, but he already rallied both the loan and interest and closed.
It is important for business owners to carefully evaluate their financial situation and their ability to repay any loans before taking on additional debt. Taking on too much debt can put your business at risk and make it harder to achieve long-term success. It is also important to make sure that the terms of the loan are favorable and that you understand the fees and obligations associated with the loan.