Financing a business enterprise requires a careful balance of financial analysis regarding the proposed or existing business model against other more intangible or should we say non-financial factors like ethics and sustainability concerns. It is often not an easy task to achieve that balance and fulfil any vision that drives those investment initiatives even more difficult.
It works both ways in the sense that an investor who puts his money in a business and the business being funded can have these concerns on their mind. The latter seeks to source investments to serve their interests and fulfil any goals that they might have at the back of their minds.
Here we will discuss a few such initiatives that will help explore the issues, goals, perceptions and the more human aspect of benefiting society as well at the same time.
ACCION Chicago Offers Microlending Solutions to Small Business Owners
Located in Chicago, Illinois, ACCION Chicago offers personalized microfinancing for small businesses from $500 to $25,000 for business establishments. Another type of loans provided includes Credit Builder loans aimed at helping those with relatively poor credit history. In this category, loans are offered from $200 to $2500 to relieve borrowers consolidate loan repayment.
Apart from usual financial services, ACCION provides a good deal of business counselling to help find solutions for issues requiring financial expertise and insights. Instead of looking for collateral or good credit scores, ACCION relies on references from customers and suppliers associated with any business to judge a potential business client on their level of dedication to the business and belief in their working model.
The underlying idea is to help deserving businesses denied financial assistance or lending facilities by traditional banks or financial institutions due to stringent norms. People looking for payday loans or loans like provident obviously look for alternatives to conventional forms of lending, and in the business world, the same holds.
Bridges Ventures Offers Sustainable Venture Capital Solutions
Bridges Ventures is a private investment firm based in London, England that offers social and environmental initiatives funding. They have three kinds of the fund under management, including Venture Funds, Sustainable Property Fund and Social Entrepreneurs Fund. Each type of fund is aimed at funding initiatives that lead to social impact in various ways.
Sustainability fund is intended to help initiatives that work towards bettering the environment, education, health and community, and underprivileged groups. The company also makes an effort to measure the social impact achieved with its business enterprises’ funding and seeks to help where social change is needed the most. Another goal is to support under-financed businesses that can increase sustainability and help improve conditions for local communities in any small measure.
Another criterion, as well as a goal in terms of funding enterprises, is the regeneration impact that it can achieve in fighting issues like unemployment and putting money back in the local economy. Utilizing the Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation, they aim to fund 25 per cent of the most deprived UK population. Taking it a step further, Bridges Ventures releases an annual social impact report to document where and in what measure it helped create social impact and discuss the methodologies employed. This works to bring in a new level of transparency for investors and social entrepreneurs working with them.
Crowd-Funded Elevens Restaurant
Elevens Restaurant intends to stand out for more than just the mouth-watering delicacies on its menu. To do that, they are seeking crowd-funding from investors who will be contributing $500 as seatholders and offer them certain special privileges. This will include priority reservations along with a hefty 25 per cent discount for life and access to an annual off-site event. They have a great chance of making it work with the kind of culinary experience they could potentially afford their patrons-turned-investors.
Daniel Patterson is a well-known gourmet chef in San Francisco who was also a consultant on the project, and it can be considered good news for the patrons. It is a unique initiative in how it seeks to crowd-source investments from its patrons and will undoubtedly inspire more entrepreneurs to be a little innovative with their investments and the way they do business on the whole.
By sourcing funds from patrons, they seek to achieve continued patron loyalty that is no mean achievement in the face of tough competition. If it works, it will pave the way for more eateries and restaurant businesses to spice up their investments and look for novel ways of funding instead of relying on traditional forms of funding.
Conclusion:
Funding businesses might sound like a mundane thing, but only so long. One does not look beyond the monotony of financial wisdom that forms only a part of it. Seen from a more human perspective, businesses help build and sustain economies and change how people live and ultimately how people think and shape their lives. Not all dreams might be fulfilled, but we must never stop striving in that direction. It is this simple thing illustrated through these examples we have discussed above.
Description:
Whether it is microlending small businesses, ethical investments in business ventures or crowd-funded restaurants, the way a business if financed is certainly undergoing a sea change.
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