[ entrepreneurship ]
Photo by Erika Smith.
Capital Access
JEAN HARDIMAN
Erika Smith had almost
everything she needed to
make her dream of running
a wedding planning, event
planning and design busi-
ness a reality. She had a
degree in interior design and a niche in a growing market. She
had fresh ideas, a strong work ethic and the desire to offer her
services to her home community in Tucker County. What she
didn’t have was financing. Through Woodlands Community
Lenders (WCL), she was able to secure the funding she needed
to not only get her business, Ella & Company, off the ground
but to then watch it grow.
Ella & Company is not the first small business to benefit
from WCL. The lender, a partner organization of Woodlands
Development Group, has been providing financing for small
businesses in Randolph, Barbour and Tucker counties since
2012. Woodlands Development Group is a nonprofit com-
munity development organization that, since 1996, has been
working in housing development, downtown redevelopment
and community facilities and planning in those three counties.
Community Lender
Provides Affordable
Loans to Small
Businesses
30
WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
“In 2011, Woodlands got together with a handful of local
partners—the Randolph County Development Authority, the
Randolph County Housing Authority and the Tucker Community
Foundation—that all recognized we needed to do more to sup-
port small business development if we wanted to see the local
economy grow,” Dave Clark, executive director of WCL, says
of the beginning of what would become a vital capital tool for
entrepreneurs and small businesses.
The group agreed to create a new loan fund with the goal
of having it certified as a Community Development Financial
Institutions (CDFI) Fund. CDFI funds are administered by
the U.S. Department of the Treasury and aim to inject cap-
ital into underserved communities. WCL was established
in conjunction with the new loan fund to provide technical
assistance and accessible capital to entrepreneurs and growing
small businesses in the region.
The loan fund is important because it can provide financing
to entrepreneurs who are typically not attractive to traditional
banks, including true startups, those needing equipment or
inventory loans, those in historically high-risk industries like
logging or food service or those with a poor credit history.
“As a nonprofit lender, we can be more creative in assessing
and mitigating risk, and we do a lot more hand-holding than
a conventional bank is typically able to do,” says Clark.
“Instead of relying primarily on the strength of collateral, we
look more for a robust and well-considered business plan and
the commitment and character of the borrower.”
After helping borrowers prepare for a loan, WCL stays
engaged to help them succeed. The lender works closely with
development authorities in Tucker, Randolph and Barbour
counties, which refer clients, provide office space and help
with joint business startup workshops.
Since inception, WCL has made 72 loans totaling $2.3
million, leveraging in $5.2 million from other lenders. “Thirty-
eight of those loans were to startup businesses, and we’ve
helped create or maintain 132 jobs in the region,” says Clark.
“Our commercial real estate lending has contributed to 85,000
square feet of redevelopment in our communities as well.”
Thanks to the continued help Smith received, in 2016 she
was able to open a brick-and-mortar store in Thomas, WV,
where she has expanded into selling antiques, home goods and
furniture. She is hopeful this lending opportunity catches on in
other parts of the state so other
West Virginia entrepreneurs like
In Numbers
herself can achieve their dreams.
“What Woodlands is doing
for this area and West Virginia
loans
is so important,” she says.
since 2013
“They’re creating opportunities
million
for people to be here and stay
in loans
here, and they’re helping com-
munities that have fallen apart
jobs created
a little bit. I hope more com-
or maintained
panies see that this is working
square
and that it is important to the
feet of
state, and I hope they help make
community redevelopment
dreams come true for other
people like me.”
72
$2.3
132
85,000