FINANCE
NONPROFIT FUND PROVIDES LOANS AND
MENTORING FOR BLACK BUSINESS OWNERS
22
Trey Alston, left, a senior lender, congratulates a recipient of BBIF financial and business services.
TCBusiness.com
Established in 1987, the Black Business
Investment Fund of Florida is a nonprofit
Community Development Financial Institution
that has successfully developed, capitalized
and trained minority and underbanked
businesses statewide for 30 years.
A Black business and investment corporation,
BBIF was created through the
Florida Small and Minority Business Act in
1985. This act was a response to the reality
that Black business owners were being
overlooked by large, traditional lenders,
making it nearly impossible for them to
obtain financing for their businesses.
One line from this act reads, “…the
time has come to eliminate the economically
crippling and demeaning disparities
between blacks and other Floridians.”
In the past three decades, the fund has
grown from a BBIC to a CDFI and Community
Development Enterprise. CDFIs and
CDEs are nonprofit financial institutions
that focus on providing and expanding
economic opportunity in low-income
communities.
Certified by the Department of the Treasury,
CDFIs and CDEs support underserved
communities through their financial
services. As a CDFI and CDE, the fund has
expanded its services from serving only
Black businesses to all businesses statewide,
with its focus and expertise firmly
rooted in supporting Black businesses.
Additionally, BBIF works with the
Small Business Administration as an
SBA-approved Microlender, Community
Advantage lender and Paycheck Protection
Program lender. It is also a member of
the Opportunity Finance Network, the Association
for Enterprise Opportunity and is
triple star A-rated with Aeris.
BBIF’s loans are provided through seven
distinct loan pools: the Black Business
Loan Fund, the Contract Financing Loan
Fund, the Small Business Loan Fund, the
Micro Loan Fund, the New Market Tax
Credit Business Loan Fund, the General
Business Loan Fund, and Hurricane Resiliency
Loan Fund.
As a direct lender, BBIF can provide
flexible loan structures to clients. Most of
its loans are structured in the following
ways: short-term and long-term working
capital, commercial real estate loans, lines
of credit, term loans, loan guarantees, and
participatory loans.
BBIF’s business advisory services support,
develop and train business owners to
create and sustain growth. Its team utilizes
a holistic approach to educate clients and
build successful businesses.
This approach includes analyzing client
businesses, tracking critical success factors
and having a structured conversation with
clients about their progress. It helps clients
identify opportunities, challenges, avoid
blind spots and identify the most important
focus areas within their business.
The fund’s approach is founded in its
belief that business success is achieved
when access to capital, capacity enhancement,
business opportunities and business
relationships are all accessible to the
business owner.
BBIF has developed an understanding
of how to successfully provide loan capital
and training to historically underbanked
businesses. Through its work over the
past three decades, it has provided more
than 400 businesses with more than $45
million in loans and thousands of hours
of business advisory services. This work
has resulted in more than 13,000 jobs and
$500 million in total economic impact. v
BY DANIELLE ST. LUCE
“…the time has come to
eliminate the economically
crippling and demeaning
disparities between blacks
and other Floridians.”
/TCBusiness.com