Columbus Metropolitan Club Luncheon: Starting and Funding Start-up Businesses

  • What: Columbus Metropolitan Club Luncheon: Starting and Funding Start-up Businesses
  • When: Tuesday, May 3, 2016   12 noon
  • Where: The Boat House at Confluence Park, 679 W. Spring St., Columbus 43215
  • Contact: Chuck Lynd 614-354-6172 or Chuck@thinkcolumbusfirst.org

The May 3, 2016, luncheon forum at the Columbus Metropolitan Club will focus on establishing and funding the many start-up businesses that do not have access to the venture capital market.

The forum, “Be the Boss: Starting and Funding New Business,”  will highlight funding sources available to small businesses, social enterprises, and start-ups in the local food and retail economies.

The program will be held at CMC’s new location, the Boat House at Confluence Park, 679 W. Spring St., Columbus, Ohio. Pre-paid reservations are required, please visit www.columbusmetroclub.org or call (614) 464.3220 ext. 1.

Panelists representing three investment fund models will be featured:
1) Inna Kinney, founder and CEO of the Economic and Community Development Institute (ECDI), who created the Invest Local Ohio fund and offers micro loans and to small businesses.

2)  Allen Proctor, chief advocate for the Community Investment Network of Central Ohio fund (CINCOhio), and CEO of the Center for Social Enterprise Development.

3) Lisa Daris, co-founder of Slow Money Central Ohio, who organizes local investors in support of farmers and entrepreneurs committed to sustainable products and practices.

The forum will be moderated by Ariana Ulloa-Olavarrieta, director of the Small Business Development Center at Columbus State. Bill LaFayette, Ph.D., economist and owner of Regionomics, will provide a special introduction.

Even though local businesses constitute half the economy (by output and jobs), are highly competitive and profitable, and create two-thirds of all new jobs, they receive far less than half the capital deposited in banks and almost none of our savings in mutual, pension, or insurance funds. Moving even a small portion of our community’s investment money from Wall Street to Main Street will result in:

  • Well capitalized local businesses;
  • An increased number of jobs;
  • A robust and resilient local economy;
  • Increased economic security for individuals and households.

The Support Our Local Economy (SOLE) coalition sees an opportunity to fill a need by investing in local small businesses and new start-ups. According to Bill LaFayette, who serves on the SOLE steering committee, “My own analysis and that of several recent studies show that central Ohio is lagging behind in this crucial economic indicator.”

SOLE brings together organizations working to address this issue by advocating greater support and increased investment funding for local enterprise development in central Ohio.

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