In March, the Bay Area A-List 2015 Winners were announced. This annual list received more than 35,000 verified votes on the 6,100 nominees of great Bay Area businesses. OBDC is proud to support many of the top-10 winners this year. We tweeted about all of these businesses last week, but in case you missed it, we present the list here.
This week OBDC Small Business Finance was selected as part of Better Bay Area, a program supported by Mission Asset Fund, Google, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Y&H Soda Family Foundation to bring the power of lending circles to a larger network of communities across the Bay Area. OBDC is planning to use lending circles to support borrowers in building credit, receiving financial education, and in growing their networks to help their businesses thrive.
The Sustainable Business Alliance and The East Bay Express have come together to produce a “Good Money Guide” for Bay Area Small Businesses. OBDC Small Business Finance is thrilled to be a part of this project.
Small business owners are not the only people thinking about changes to the minimum wage. A few major corporations have made the choice to voluntarily raise their compensation levels for their lowest-paid workers.
Two independent reports were recently released finding that Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are a critical component of the financial services industry, to ensure low-income people have access to credit and capital.
In the United States, women own 10.6 million businesses that produce approximately $2.5 trillion in sales every year. These women-owned companies employ 19.1 million workers, or one in every seven employees. Even though women own approximately 30 percent of small businesses, women-owned companies make up just 16 percent of bank loans and 17 percent of SBA loans. You can find more statistics about women entrepreneurs in this great fact sheet.
This week, the new minimum wage ordinance in Oakland went into effect. For more about the new laws and some tips about how to navigate the implementation process, check our our past blogs. Businesses across town are still working on all the systems and processes needed to comply with the law. Here are some resources to support you in that process:
Oakland, February 24, 2015 – OBDC Small Business Finance announced today that Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) and the Citi Foundation have selected Jen Leybovich, Vice President – Strategy & Development, OBDC Small Business Finance, as one of 48 community development financial institution (CDFI) professionals who will participate in the second annual Citi Leadership Program for Opportunity Finance.
On March 2, the minimum wage increase in Oakland takes effect, and small business owners across the city are getting ready for the new regulation. Oakland will have the highest minimum wage in the country (though Emeryville is attempting to raise their minimum wage as high as $14/hour), and the discussion from small businesses about this increase has been mostly positive.
OBDC is excited to celebrate the businesses we support. This month, we’ve profiled Karen Roberts of HauteButch, a clothing company offering their customers a line of masculine and gender-neutral clothing and footwear designed for women’s bodies.
