CIBC, SomerCor & World Business Chicago Join Mayor Lightfoot to Present a New Small Business Accelerator Program, "Black & Latino Excellence Investment Summit"

June 16, 2022, 3:30 PM | Museum of Science & Industry

CHICAGO, June 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CIBC, SomerCor and World Business Chicago will join Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot today, June 16, at an event to recognize inaugural small business accelerator program, Black & Latino Excellence Investment Summit, assisting development opportunities requiring capital. 

"Entrepreneurship is a massive source of job growth within communities," said Mayor Lightfoot. "The City is committed to working with partners like World Business Chicago, CIBC, and SomerCor to scale up employment opportunities and small businesses in Black and Hispanic communities across our city. Aligned with our INVEST South/West initiative, this program is vitally important to sustainable growth in our neighborhoods." 

In the Spring of 2022, World Business Chicago's Community Impact team, led by LaForce Baker, convened financial and technical service providers and 11 local Black and Latino-owned businesses in the retail, light manufacturing and professional services industries, for the purpose of helping business owners become positioned to apply for, and be awarded, capital in order to expand their business on the city's South and West sides.  To qualify, businesses needed to have $250,000 in annual revenue, minimum of three years in business; and an identified clear growth and development opportunities requiring capital investment.

"Supporting business growth throughout our 77-neighborhoods is essential to the city's overall economic vitality as it creates jobs, opportunity, stability and even, generational change," said Michael Fassnacht, President & CEO, World Business Chicago, and Chief Marketing Officer, City of Chicago. "We are especially proud to convene public and private stakeholders in the business community with local Black and Latino small business owners to help overcome existing barriers to expansion and growth."

According to a recent report published by the Alliance for Entrepreneurial Equity, it was realized that just two percent of U.S. businesses with employees are Black-owned, while only six percent are Hispanic-owned, which underscores the importance of programs like this.

"Minority owned businesses face greater challenges accessing capital and other resources needed to grow. We are working to change this narrative to create more investment and opportunity in communities of color," said SomerCor CEO, Manuel Flores. "The Summit is a model and a call-to-action to develop more of these public-private partnerships that will catalyze lasting and sustainable equitable investment in the South and West Sides of Chicago."

"CIBC is pleased to join World Business Chicago to help address the pressing need to invest in Black- and Latino-owned businesses," said Cheryl Wilson, Head of US Community Development Lending at CIBC. "At CIBC, giving back is personal, and helping these business owners realize their ambitions is one way we are giving back to our communities."

World Business Chicago is now accepting applications for future Summit participants, partner organizations and sponsors. Go to worldbusinesschicago.com/investmentsummit for more information and to register interest.

Presenting sponsors are CIBC and SomerCor; supporting sponsors include Founders First, JPMorgan Chase and Wintrust Financial.

About CIBC
CIBC is a leading North American financial institution with 11 million personal banking, business, public sector and institutional clients. CIBC offers a full range of advice, solutions and services in the United States, across Canada and around the world. In the US, CIBC Bank USA provides commercial banking, private and personal banking and small business banking solutions and CIBC Private Wealth offers investment management, wealth strategies and legacy planning. Visit us at cibc.com/US.

About SomerCor
SomerCor is a non-profit lender, certified by the Small Business Administration, that specializes in originating and servicing SBA 504 loans. Since its founding in 1992, SomerCor has funded over 2300 loans with a total volume of $1.44 billion. SomerCor also administers the Small Business Improvement Fund (SBIF) and Neighborhood Opportunity Fund (NOF) grants for the city of Chicago. Based in Chicago, the SomerCor mission is to grow businesses, create jobs, and increase impactful investment in every community through access to capital. For more information visit www.somercor.com.

About World Business Chicago & its Community Impact Team 
World Business Chicago (WBC) serves a critical role in driving inclusive and equitable recovery throughout the city's 77-neighborhoods. As the city's economic development agency, World Business Chicago leads business acquisition, workforce and talent, community impact and equity, support of our business community and promotion of Chicago as a leading global city. The WBC Community Impact Team supports equitable economic growth through strategies delineated in Chicago's Recovery Task Force, including the main initiative, INVEST South/West.

SOURCE World Business Chicago