Call for Nominations from Inner City Companies Seeking Access to Growth Capital
Call for Nominations from Inner City Companies Seeking Access to Growth Capital
National Business Support Program Scales to Offer Training Seminars Across the Country
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), Bank of America and FORTUNE magazineannounced today the open call for nominations for the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program, which educates investment-ready inner city companies on how to achieve sustainable growth and about sources of growth capital and connects them with potential investors. Participating companies have raised more than $703 million in capital and created 5,700 new jobs since the program began in 2005.
In 2013, ICIC, with the support of its local partners, will host capital training workshops in Atlanta (July 26), Cleveland (August 14) and Detroit (October 17), and will include educational sessions about entrepreneurial finance strategy, talent management, marketing and different forms of capital, including angel investments, venture capital, bank debt and lines of credit.
Entrepreneurs will receive coaching from both debt and equity providers, in addition to mentoring from Bank of America small business and business bankers, on how to prepare for and effectively communicate with capital providers. Entrepreneur participants will then have the opportunity to pitch their businesses to debt providers and equity investors at the ICCC National Matching Day, to be held in New York City on November 21, 2013.
The ICCC program is designed for existing, successful businesses having an impact on their communities and ready for capital investment to leverage their growth. The program tuition is waived for select participants.
Nominations will be reviewed starting the week of June 3, 2013 on a rolling basis. Nominations can be submitted online.
Eligible companies must be headquartered in or have 51 percent or more of a physical operations presence in an economically distressed urban area, or have 40 percent of their employees located in an economically distressed urban area. In addition, eligible companies must be a for-profit corporation, partnership or proprietorship with revenues of more than $2 million in 2012. More than 1,000 companies were nominated for last year's ICCC program from various industries including technology, business services and manufacturing.
Since the launch of the ICCC program in 2005, approximately 375 inner city companies and 175 debt and equity providers have been selected to participate. Ninety percent of the more than $703 million in capital raised by participating companies has been achieved within two years of participation. In addition, ICCC companies have created or helped to create 5,700 jobs and on average hire 40 percent of their workforce from within the inner city.
For more information about the eligibility requirements or participation in the Inner City Capital Connections program, contact Hyacinth Vassell at hvassell@icic.org.
Quotes from Participating Inner City CEOs
"ICCC got me out of the office and thinking about bigger picture business issues."
Andy Phillip, president, Microlution, Chicago, Ill.
"This [ICCC] has been my MBA wrapped up into one day! Absolutely fabulous. It was definitely worth the trip from Oklahoma. I would do it again in a heartbeat."
Deemah Ramadan, partner, Design + Build Group, Oklahoma City, Okla.
"This program [ICCC] has, in one day, propelled me to think about my business in another dimension."
Nadine Cino, CEO, Tyga-Box Systems, New York, N.Y.
"I don't think I would have been able to receive this information from any other place. This experience [ICCC] has enriched my life and business."
Gloria Freeman, CEO, Olu's Home, Minneapolis, Minn.
Local Training Partners
ICIC is grateful for the support of its local partners in Atlanta, Cleveland and Detroit.
Atlanta: Ace Loans, 53rd, City of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Georgia Institute of Technology, Invest Atlanta, Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), Office of Atlanta City Council President Ceasar C. Mitchell and PNC Bank.
Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University, Economic and Community Development Institute, JumpStart, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Positively Cleveland and Quicken.
Detroit: Ally, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Detroit Regional Chamber, Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Quicken.
About ICIC: The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City is a nonprofit research and strategy organization and the leading authority on U.S. inner city economies and the businesses that thrive there. Founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, ICIC expands inner city economies by providing businesses, governments and investors with the most comprehensive and actionable information in the field about urban market opportunities. ICIC's unique knowledge and expertise about inner city success factors and thriving companies is developed from specialized urban networks and path-breaking research. www.icic.org
About Bank of America: Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. We serve approximately 52 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,400 retail banking offices and approximately 16,300 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 30 million active users. Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in more than 40 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYS: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
About FORTUNE: FORTUNE magazine is a global leader in business journalism with a domestic circulation of over 845,000 and a global readership of nearly 5 million, which include major franchises such as the FORTUNE 500 and the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For. FORTUNE Live Media extends the brand's mission into live events, hosting a wide range of annual conferences, including FORTUNE's Most Powerful Women and the FORTUNE Global Forum. FORTUNE publishes English-language editions in Europe and Asia, and local-language editions in United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, China, Turkey, South Korea, Indonesia, India and Greece. CNNMoney.com, which draws more than 14.6 million readers a month, is the online home of FORTUNE.com.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130607005744/en/
Steven Pedigo, ICIC, 1.617.785.0807
spedigo@icic.org
KEYWORDS: United States North America Massachusetts
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