16. Accessible Money & Advice for Your BIPOC Business with Accion Opportunity Fund

Did you know there’s free money available to you?

There are options like funding, grants, and loans for BIPOC business owners and allies like you and me.

You don’t have to figure everything out on your own. If there are resources available to you, you should be leveraging them to grow your business and give back to your community. Big corporations do this all the time!

I've partnered up with Luis Ramos and Desha Elliott of the Accion Opportunity Fund to share some resources and tips to grow your mission-driven business.

Luis Ramos joined Accion Opportunity Fund as the Director of Business Advising in 2020. Throughout his career, Ramos has helped individuals in the United States and Central America build and grow their businesses by providing direct mentoring opportunities and educational resources.

Desha is a business advisor for Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF), the largest CDFI to provide a financial support system for small businesses that advance racial, gender, and economic justice for all.

If you want to find out what funding opportunities are available to you and how to access them, this episode is for you.

Show notes are always available at elainelou.com/podcast/16.

Resources Mentioned:

Accion Opportunity Fund’s Website: aofund.org

Small Business Development Centers (SBDC): https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/resource-partners/small-business-development-centers-sbdc

SOAR Fund: https://www.connect2capital.com/p/soar-fund/

Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation: https://laedc.org/

AOF’s Resource Library: https://aofund.org/resources/resource-library/ 

Follow @AOFundTweets on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AOFundTweets 

Connect with Desha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdesha/

Where We Can Connect:

Apply to schedule a call to see if the Color Your Dreams Inner Circle is a good fit for you: https://elainelou.com/innercircle

Schedule a call with me: https://elainelou.com/call

Join my weekly Color Your Dreams Newsletter: http://elainelou.com/join

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Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaineloucartas