Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) has been serving the business-development needs of underserved Wisconsinites for over a generation. “Because we’ve been around for close to 35 years, folks come in and ask us for just about anything,” says Renee Lindner, an outreach specialist focused on urban areas for WWBIC. “By virtue of that reputation, we sometimes have to manage expectations.”
But WWBIC comes by that reputation honestly. Baked into their organizational approach to helping small business owners—--especially women and business owners of color—--is a refreshing approach to meeting business needs that doesn’t just focus on the financials. “We’re not just giving loans,” Lindner points out. “We’re making sure they are in a position to run their businesses well, to help them earn the profits they need, yes, to pay back their loans. But also to leverage their loan capital to realize growth.”
As a CDFI, WWBIC offers a range of business loan products covering amounts from $1,000 to $250,000. In partnership with Kiva, WWBIC also offers smaller-dollar, zero-interest loans that open up the lower rungs of the lending ladder for the newest borrowers.
But many of the 5,000 or so clients WWBIC works with each year to start, sustain, and grow their small businesses face daily challenges that extend beyond access to capital and may be intensely personal or familial. After all it’s hard to focus on creating a successful business if you’re worried about paying off credit cards, or getting enough nutritious food for your family on any given day. That’s why every loan recipient is paired with a small business consultant that serves as a sort of case manager for the business owner. It’s the consultant’s role to connect the business owner with other resources. That might be enrolling in the dozen or so business-related classes that WWBIC conducts across Wisconsin (and online). But it might also include counseling to help business owners think about how to better manage household finances, or plan nutritional meals affordably, or repair their personal credit. And if an owner’s needs go beyond business fundamentals or financial wellness, WWBIC’s consultants make referrals to other service providers throughout the state.
At least one-fifth of WWBIC’s loan recipients are producers. (Of almost 900 active loans, 18 percent are makers or manufacturers; another 22 percent are food-related, which includes a mix of restaurants and producers.) One success story is Milwaukee-area herbal tea producer, Swaye Tea. Owners Aisha and Shiree Henry came to WWBIC for a Kiva loan as they are moving from selling at farmers markets to wholesaling and a dedicated retailing space. “I walked into their new space soon after they had a very successful spot on local TV and realized they were trying to figure out the balance between production and customer service,” says WWBIC’s Lindner who is working to connect them with some customer service training. Lindner is also helping the Henrys to get into a new program supporting entrepreneurs who are military veterans. (They met in the military and Aisha is currently in the U.S. Navy.)
“It’s the creative spirit and ability to pivot of makers and manufacturers that will help our whole economy stay resilient through tough times that urban communities, and lower-middle and working class people have always faced. Makers figure things out, it’s how they think. I’m proud to be their ally,” says Lindner.
This case study was co-authored by Mark Foggin and Johnny Magdaleno and published in 2020 as part of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance’s “Forging Fairness: How community-based lenders are centering both inclusion and manufacturing to promote equity [link to report].” This report highlights the work of practitioners in UMA’s Pathways to Patient Capital cohort, and approaches these leaders are taking to help entrepreneurs of color–including makers and manufacturers–get access to the capital and know-how they need to realize their business ideas and plans at scale.