Goldman Sachs launches $500 million “10,000 Small Business” plan

As part of my purpose to get businesses information and resources to help them sustain and grow their businesses,  I found this today:

10,000 Small Businesses is a $500 million investment to help create jobs and economic opportunity in the United States.

The initiative will unlock the growth and job-creation potential of 10,000 small businesses across the United States through greater access to business education, mentors and networks, and financial capital.

10,000 Small Businesses will contribute $200 million to program partners, including local community colleges, universities and other institutions, to provide scholarships to underserved small business owners and build educational capacity. A pragmatic, skills-based curriculum will include accounting, marketing, human resources management and other practical business skills

Goldman Sachs will invest $300 million through a combination of lending and philanthropic support to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). The investment will increase the amount of growth capital available to small businesses in disadvantaged communities and expand the capacity of the CDFIs to deliver enhanced technical assistance to small businesses. In addition, 10,000 Small Businesses will provide technical assistance to graduates of the program to help them access other sources of capital.

Selection criteria for owners of small- and medium-sized businesses will be based on criteria of comparable successful programs and tailored to the specific community in which the 10,000 Small Businesses program operates. Broad characteristics of business owners targeted include, but are not limited to:
• Business revenues between $150,000 and $4M in most recent fiscal year
• At least four full-time employees
• Business operations for at least two years
• Business model that could scale to create more jobs
• Predominantly in underserved markets

Please email your inquiry to 10000SmallBusinesses@gs.com

NEXT!

On December 8th, I’m on a panel on Social Media at the New North Summit at the KI Center as part of the NEWEND (the Northeast Wisconsin Entrepreneur  Networking Day) #the_new_end A Taste of Entrepreneurship and I’m honored to have been asked!

Prior to our panelist meeting this week, they sent us a link to a list of 25 Social Media FAQ’s to which the answer is NO!  A few of my favs are below – remember, the answers to these are NO!

• Can you (my agency) do this all for me?
• Will I see results in 30 days?
• Can I expect to have thousands of fans for my B2B professional services firm on Facebook?
• Can’t this just replace traditional marketing, advertising and PR? OR: Can this be separate from our public relations efforts and strategy?
• Can’t I just tell my employees there is a strict no-social-media policy?
• Is blogging once a month or so enough?

And last NEXT for today:

I got a link to this in my ACCE (American Chamber of Commerce Executives) newsletter and I really liked it, I thought some of you might too.  It comes from the newsletter Small Business Success: Practical Tips for Small Biz Owners.  The article talks about the freedom and success of doing JUST.ONE.THING.AT.A.TIME.  (something I’m horrible at!) The article starts:

I’m just like you — just like every entrepreneur I know. I have a million ideas and I want to do them ALL right away!

But I learned an important and enlightening lesson last year that I’d like to share with you. By focusing all my attention, energy, time and resources on one big project, I increased my income (even during a recession), and more importantly I was happier and more relaxed.

I WAS HOOKED!!

Enjoy… and have a great day!