Fall 2015 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

OBDC Small Business Finance believes that our unique partnerships are a critical component to connecting our borrowers to the funding, education, and relationships they need to thrive. This year continues to be full of exciting new partnerships and initiatives.

We’re thrilled to announce that OBDC was awarded $1.75 million by the CDFI Fund. We are honored by this tremendous support of our work.
Beginning in this newsletter, OBDC’s Kathia Kacic will be sharing some practical tips to help you manage your credit score.
OBDC is a host company for Oakland’s inaugural NewCo festival this October, and we’re proud to be included in an incredible list of innovators in the Bay Area.
OBDC recently formalized our partnership with Localwise, an East Bay start-up that offers small businesses and local residents a job board to find great talent and support the growing number of small businesses in the Bay Area.
Many thanks to everyone who attended OBDC’s office warming in June. We were thrilled to welcome over 100 friends, clients, and partners to celebrate entrepreneurs and the impact small businesses make in our communities. Below you will find links to the photos from that event.

We look forward to continuing to share our work with you throughout the rest of the year. Thank you for your partnership and support.

Jacob Singer, CEO

We are Opening Our Doors for You!

We are honored to have been chosen as an Oakland NewCo. We’ll be hosting a 1-hour session right INSIDE our offices at 1:30pm on Thursday, October 8. Come hear Adrian Gomez Zavala and Scott Lewis discuss the critical importance of small businesses for our local economies and get a chance to meet with a few of OBDC’s clients who are creating jobs and helping to transform Oakland.

Visit our offices and choose among 70 other innovative Oakland companies at NewCo Oakland 2015!

Make sure to sign up for a few sessions on October 8! Find the full schedule here oak.newco.co.

See what it is like to attend a NewCo Festival (Watch a quick video)

NewCo celebrates companies on a mission with an “inside out” conference model where attendees get an opportunity to get an inside look at some of the most innovative and smart companies of our generation. These companies open their doors and invite the community to their offices for a one-hour experiential session. Once inside, participants have a wide range of experiences – from behind-the-scene tours of cutting-edge work environments to founders candidly sharing insights from their entrepreneurial journey. Only NewCo offers this deep and unique experience.

As a member of our community, you’ll get 30% off tickets with the code “HC30Oak”!

Get tickets and sign up for our session today!

Why Take Your Business Online?

Many small business owners find there is an overwhelming amount of stuff to do. Because you are chef, cook, and dishwasher (sometimes quite literally), it is difficult to plan ahead and set priorities when they are hidden by the flames of the fires you always seem to be putting out.

You may not realize that going online can actually make you money by growing revenue and profits even while you sleep. Developing an online strategy may make it easier for customer to reach you when you can’t reach them.

For the rest of Paula’s business tip about going online, click here.

Local Jobs and Where to Find Them

After moving to the Bay Area for grad school, Maya Tobias and Ben Hamlin met and decided to launch their own social enterprise, Localwise. Localwise, like a lot of start-ups, has evolved over time, and now serves as a platform for local businesses to post their opportunities and for local folks to find jobs.

Running a small business is challenging, and one of the pain points Maya & Ben identified was hiring. Having a place to post that fosters community and celebrates what’s great about our community was the inspiration for Localwise.

To learn more about Localwise and our partnership, please click here.

Get to Know Kathia Kacic,
Assistant Vice President – Loan Servicing

Kathia has completed several trainings and courses through the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders and the Neighborhood Development Center and is well-versed in economic development principles. She brings 2 years of experience as a business development manager and in previous roles has served the entire San Francisco Bay Area, working with start-up and existing business owners to provide them with business advising and funding. She brings over 10 years of experience to her work in loan servicing at OBDC and has always been committed to serving her clients and providing exceptional service. Click here for Kathia’s bio.

“I am a constant witness to the commitment of our borrowers, the transmission of our values, and the cultivation of our client relationships in and out of our offices. When taking a jaunt or meandering around the neighborhood, I cannot fully express the joy I experience when a client recognizes me and I see their smile and hear their unadulterated expression of gratitude. It is that interaction that tugs at my heartstrings. Another reason why I love working at OBDC is that it has provided me the opportunity to become an ambassador to my community.” – Kathia Kacic

Click here for Kathia’s full interview.

New Partnerships

OBDC joins Business Owner Space (BOS)

OBDC is excited to join Business Owner Space.com (BOS) to increase awareness of our Veterans Program in the greater San Jose metropolitan area. BOS is composed of a collaborative partnership among more than two dozen public, private, and non-profit agencies and businesses all pursuing the same goal: to help new and small business owners and entrepreneurs achieve success.

BOS aims to increase awareness among small business owners and entrepreneurs of the existence of the myriad of services offered by network partners; improve service availability via culturally or linguistically appropriate delivery channels; create virtual approaches that fit the time limitation of a small business owner; and develop business assistance services and service delivery methods that are of value to entrepreneurs and business owners.

Community Corner

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Recent Loans

We’re excited to announce that OBDC has recently funded these incredible businesses!

Visit the websites of many OBDC-funded businesses by clicking here for our interactive map.

Overheard on Twitter

@PCVtweets Does your Bay Area #smallbiz need new working capital? our SFEDA partner @obdc_finance can help you flourish http://bit.ly/1yTQlZO

OBDC’s Clients in the News

Our borrowers have been getting a lot of great press. Click on each title below to read the stories:

Farleys
Farley’s launches a profit-sharing program

Noble Brewer
Brewing up a new business model for beer

Noble Brewer: World’s first online beer club for homebrewers

Hip Chick Farms
Small Business Success Story

Revolution Foods
Moms on a Mission to Build Lifelong Healthy Eaters With Revolution Foods

Back to the Roots
Back to the Roots has so much media we can’t link to all of it – visit their Facebook page to see them in O Magazine and more!

Click here to follow us for more!

OBDC In the News

We’re thrilled when our work gets recognized. Click on the title below to read the story:

Five Important Things to Know About Community Lenders

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OBDC is Hiring!

Click here for our careers page for more information about our new staff positions supporting our work in Oakland and our paid intern positions support Oakland, impact evaluation, and our veterans program.

Grow Your Network

OBDC is proud to partner with Townsquared, a closed social networking site that connects neighborhood businesses to one another. Townsquared offers OBDC a platform to share news, business tips, and resources directly with our clients. Click here to join today for exclusive access to our workshop materials, upcoming opportunities for your business, and more content you’ll only find on Townsquared.

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Expert Business Advising

At OBDC we are proud to continue our partnership with Pacific Community Ventures (PCV). PCV’s online advising program has a great new website and offers…

Click here to read more.

Our Funders

We’re grateful for the financial support provided by our bank partners this year:

Bank of America
Citi Foundation
City National Bank
Comerica Bank
JPMorgan Chase Foundation
Wells Fargo

For more about our supporters, click here.

Thanks for Attending OBDC’s Office Warming!

On June 11, 2015 we were thrilled to welcome over 100 friends, clients, and community members to celebrate our new space in downtown Oakland. Click here to find photos on Flicker and click here to visit our Facebook album and tag yourself.

Learn more about our Oakland, San Francisco, and Veteran Programs at

mainstreetlaunch.org

Add updates@mainstreetlaunch.org to your address book to be sure you never miss any important news!

Powering Dreams. Transforming Communities.

OBDC Small Business Finance

2101 Webster Street, Suite 1200, Oakland CA 94612

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