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Let's Talk Small Business

Month: August 2014

Karen Davis and Maria Peck with Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs

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We continue our series on small business financial literacy with special guests, Strategic Initiatives Director Karen Davis and Loan Officer Maria Peck of Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE). ACE is a nonprofit community lender that specializes in small business loans coupled with business advisory services. They assist tiny start-ups to large businesses and everything in between, by making loans with generous repayment terms and affordable interest rates – resources that can be extremely difficult to access using traditional banks today. So if you are a small business needing the capital to grow and sustain your business, or a larger company wanting to enhance your competitiveness and sustainability – listen in and consider ACE as your financial partner today.     Twitter

Karen Davis / Strategic Initiatives Director

Karen Davis currently serves as Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs’ (ACE) Strategic Initiatives Director. In this role, she directs ACE’s Women Investing in Successful Entrepreneurs (WISE) Initiative which is a $2.5 million revolving loan fund specifically for women entrepreneurs wanting to expand or start a business within Metro Atlanta and the North Georgia region. In addition to the loan funds, WISE offers business advisory support through individualized business consultations, business development seminars, speed coaching, and mentoring from high net-worth business owners. Karen is also the Principal Consultant of Curry Davis Consulting Group, LLC. Karen has more than 13 years of program management and community development experience and has made strides in her efforts to assist families with moving towards economic self-sufficiency, health and wellness.

Maria Peck / Loan Officer

Maria “Mayte” Peck was born in New York City and raised in Trujillo, Peru. Her 15-plus years of sales and marketing experience comes from a broad range of positions held in Atlanta and New York, giving her a diverse view of the industry. As the owner of Sweet Devil Moon Tapas Bar, she was personally responsible for meeting the financial challenges of running a restaurant, managing a 1.2 Million-dollar yearly budget for 6 years. Her search for additional funding led her to ACCION USA, a national micro-lender. She spent two years working from home after her daughter Victoria was born, then decided to work with Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs as Small Business Loan Officer. She works on community outreach initiatives, coaching financial education programs around town, one-on-one business consulting and lending.

 

 

Lara O’Connor Hodgson with NOWaccount and Dwayne Cheatom with Skyline Engineering

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2014-08-19 12.00.13-2

If you are like most small businesses, 90 percent of your B2B sales require you to manage and fund a transaction. Meanwhile, with your working capital tied up in outstanding invoices, funding new sales for business growth can be a challenge. Addressing this problem is GMSDC strategic partner Lara O’Connor Hodgson, GMSDC strategic partner and president & CEO of Nowaccount Network Corporation. Her goals are to help small businesses “grow fearlessly,” and by aiding with small business cash flow challenges, to “save the U.S. economy.” Listen to this important interview, as it is the first of an ongoing Access to Capital Interview Series on GMSDC Radio.

Lara O’Connor Hodgson / NOWaccount Network Corporation

Dwayne Cheatom / Skyline Engineering & Construction

 

 

Donna Ennis with MBDA Business Center Atlanta

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In honor of its 10-year anniversary, GMSDC Radio welcomed Donna Ennis of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Center – Atlanta to the studio. As a federal program of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, as well as, a strategic partner to the GMSDC’s Mentor Protégé Connection program—you’ll want to tune in as Ennis elaborates on the new direction of the MBDA Center and shares the MBDA’s take on the state of small business today.

Donna Ennis / MBDA Business Center – Atlanta LinkedIn Twitter

Donna Ennis, C.P.F is the project director for the MBDA Business Center – Atlanta located at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2). Funded by the Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), the MBDA Business Center’s mission is to grow and strengthen Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs).

A Certified Professional Facilitator, Donna is responsible for the strategic direction, marketing, outreach, and operations for the Center and provides assistance to Center clients in strategic, business and market planning; private and public procurement, finance, operations and business process improvement. Under her leadership, the Center has assisted MBEs in generating over $1 billion in contracts, financing, and sales and creating more than 4,000 jobs.

Donna has more than 30 years of experience in marketing, communications, public relations, program management, and business development with an emphasis on identifying company needs and matching those needs to the appropriate resources. As the former manager of product marketing and program services for EI2, she directed the marketing strategies and activities for EI2’s Center for International Standards & Quality, Lean Enterprise Services, and the Energy and Environmental Management Center. Trained as a lead auditor for ISO 9001, she helped companies determine their business process improvement needs and provided specific direction for clients who implemented management systems and lean techniques as part of their business strategies.

Donna received her Master of Public Administration from Georgia State University and a B.S. in communications from Boston University. She is an awardee of the 2011 Georgia Tech Women Out Front program and has been named one of Atlanta’s Top 100 Black Women of Influence by the Atlanta Business League. Donna is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Center for the Prevention of Home Improvement Fraud and a former member of the Board of Trustees of Atlanta Unity Church. A native of Washington, D.C., she is the proud mother of daughter Adenike Makinde.

 

 

Spotlight on MBEIC Leadership

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Business in need of a boost? Try the 2014 MBEIC Regional Summit! MBEIC Chair Sylvia Nealy David of HTC Advisors, Professional Services Chair Ted Cummings of Onyx Media Services Group, and Construction Vice Chair James Warren of B&S Electric Supply Co. were on hand to promote the upcoming GMSDC Minority Business Enterprise Input Committee (MBEIC) Regional Summit. An annual conference for the business enrichment of the Southeast’s leading minority business enterprises (MBEs), the summit is an opportunity to learn and network with the knowledgeable and well-connected. So listen in for event details and pointers on maximizing your effectiveness at any conference of this size.

Sylvia Nealy David / Human & Technology Capital Advisors, LLC LinkedIn

Sylvia Nealy David is the Managing Principal with Human and Technology Capital Advisors, a premier Human Capital Management consulting and solution implementation firm, specializing in the implementation of human capital management strategy utilizing technology. She is an International HR Executive with over 20 years of experience in human capital management. Sylvia has led international and national HR organizations in North America, South America, Southern and Central Europe for profit and non-profit organizations. She has experience in higher education, financial services, and the healthcare industries. Her expertise includes strategic human resources leadership and evaluation, total rewards management, workforce planning & diversity implementation, mergers & acquisitions, corporate compliance, leadership development, talent management, performance management and organizational design & development.

Sylvia is a pioneer in Human Capital Management. She developed an HR Capabilities Model. This model has established standard competencies for measuring HR effectiveness and efficiency. Sylvia has held several leadership roles with in human resources management. Prior to Human and Technology Capital Advisors, Sylvia was the Vice President for Human Resources for Morehouse School of Medicine, Global Vice President of HR at Habitat for Humanity International, and various leadership roles with Emory and Synovus Financial Corp.

Sylvia serves on the Board of Director, (HR Committee) for the Girls Scouts of Greater Atlanta, and is a Mentor for Pathbuilders, Inc. In addition, she serves as the Chair of (MBEIC) Minority Business Enterprise Input Committee for the NMSDC Georgia Affiliate Council, a member of the Board of Directors for the NMSDC Georgia Affiliate Council, and an appointee of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Advisory Council. Sylvia is also Chair of the Small Business Council Community Committee.

Ted Cummings / Onyx Media Services 

James Warren / B&S Electric Supply Co., Inc.  Twitter