Author: NaShawn Branch, DBA

These are truly exciting time for those starting a business. The promise of being your boss is both very exciting and potentially financially rewarding. At the TSBDC, we often hear so many brilliant ideas fueled by passion and desire to participate in the economy as a business owner.

Nevertheless, even if you have a business plan, business planning isn’t enough. In order to successfully launch a business, funding is paramount.

In our October article titled, “10 alternative funding sources for small businesses and how TSBDC can help,” we suggested alternative funding sources to consider if you are trying to start a new business but lack access to funding. Due to overwhelming response, we are continuing to provide startup funding advice.

On Oct. 27, 2022, the TSBDC hosted a seminar at Southwest Tennessee Community College’s Maxine A. Smith Center, where Gary Moore from BrightBridge Capital, discussed the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Community Advantage Loan.

Read More: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/inno/stories/partner-content/2022/12/01/brightbridge-capital-and-tsbdc-partner-to-offer-ad.html

Memphis Light, Gas & Water’s (MLGW) Supplier Diversity and Economic Development teams, along with Tennessee Small Business Development Center and Southwest Community College, will host the Business Owners Strategy Summit, known as B.O.S.S. Up, on Nov. 2, 2022, at Southwest Tennessee Community College’s Maxine Smith Campus. TSBDC will help representatives from 30 in-person and 30 virtual certified minority-owned, women-owned and locally-owned small businesses develop customized business plans. Participants also will attend business classes and network during the daylong event.

Read more: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/inno/stories/partner-content/2022/11/01/boss-up-mlgw-and-tsbdc-to-host-a-business-own.html

Funding for small businesses changed significantly in the wake of COVID-19. The Small Business Administration helped small businesses stay afloat with the Paycheck Protection Program that provided loans to help struggling businesses keep their workforces employed. However, the loans were only offered to existing business, so those intrepid entrepreneurs who launched businesses during the pandemic did not qualify.

Funding challenges are not new to startups. Many startup business owners must fund their fledgling ventures with their life savings. While this is a practical means to start a business, not everyone has the cash to get their dream off the ground.

Read more on Memphis Business Journal:

https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/inno/stories/partner-content/2022/10/01/10-alternative-funding-sources-for-small-business.html

Southwest Tennessee Community College (Southwest) and the Crews Center for Entrepreneurship at University of Memphis (UOM) collaborated in 2022 to establish ImagineU, an intensive, 12-week summer entrepreneurship accelerator designed as a hub for area entrepreneurs.

The ImagineU Summer Entrepreneurship Accelerator program emphasizes diversity and inclusion. The Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) at Southwest pays participating students a $3,000 stipend to make the experience available to students from all walks of life

Read More: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/inno/stories/partner-content/2022/09/13/imagineu-provides-peek-into-the-power-of-young.html

In 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic, scores of businesses struggled with accessing adequate financing. A McKinsey & Company study found that while all small business owners faced challenges during COVID-19, Black small business owners were some of the most vulnerable.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, about 58 percent of Black-owned businesses were at risk of financial distress before the pandemic, compared with about 27 percent of white-owned businesses. According to the U.S. Census, of the 70,891 businesses operated in Memphis, 43,949 or 62 percent, are minority-owned firms, also known as Minority Business Enterprises or MBE’s.

In March 2022, The MMBC Continuum, an economic accelerator for area MBEs, entered a partnership with the Tennessee Small Business Development Center at Southwest Tennessee Community College and other local agencies to execute the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency Coronavirus Response & Relief Program headed by Brittney Elkins. The program provides critical financial advisement and support to 50 minority-owned business enterprises. The participating MBEs receive financial advisement and assistance with preparing loan applications and other financial documents.

Read More: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/inno/stories/partner-content/2022/08/01/getting-loan-ready-with-the-tsbdc.html

The Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) has partnered with BancorpSouth, a division of Cadence Bank, to provide a free business loan seminar for small businesses.

“Although approval rates for small business loans hit a high before the pandemic, some businesses are having a difficult time navigating the current landscape,” said NaShawn Branch, executive director of TSBDC. “This partnership is a great example of BancorpSouth’s commitment to the community. We’re excited to work with them to provide vital resources to small businesses.”

The seminar will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Aug. 25, 2022, at Southwest Tennessee Community College at the Maxine Smith Campus at 8800 East Shelby Drive, Memphis, Tennessee, 38125, Room 101.

Read more: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/inno/stories/partner-content/2022/07/01/tsbdc-and-cadence-bank-to-host-business-financing.html

Cadence Bank Foundation donates $75,000

On April 29, 2022, the Memphis Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) received a $75,000 donation from the Cadence Bank Foundation (formerly BancorpSouth Bank Foundation) to provide technical assistance to small businesses in low-to-moderate income communities (LMI).

Read more: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/inno/stories/partner-content/2022/06/01/tsbdc-at-southwest-tennessee-community-college.html

Scores of businesses have shuttered since the global Covid-19 pandemic declaration March 11, 2020. University of California – Santa Cruz economics professor Robert Earlie in his article, “The Impact of Covid-19 on Small Business Owners: Evidence of Early-Stage Losses from the April 2020 Current Population Survey,” reported that small businesses were particularly sensitive to the major economic shifts triggered by the pandemic. His findings indicate small businesses suffered the earliest losses and Black-owned small businesses were hit hardest of all.

Read More: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/inno/stories/partner-content/2022/05/01/tennessee-area-small-businesses-receive-recovery-a.html

The Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) reignited the “Spark the Dream” presentation at Southwest Tennessee Community College (Southwest) Feb. 22, 2022, to allow students to learn from real-world startup business owners what it takes to launch a small business.

Read more: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/inno/stories/partner-content/2022/03/22/tsbdc-sponsors-student-entrepreneurs-at-imagineu.html