WomenVenture, adviser and small lender to fledgling female-owned businesses, is expanding its portfolio, thanks partly to a $250,000 Wells Fargo grant, one of only 12 awarded nationally to 98 "Community Development Financial Institution" applicants that assist "underserved populations.''
That means we can expect to see more Yolanda Maxwells. And that is a good thing.
Maxwell is owner of St. Paul's Little Steps Childcare Center. She benefited this year from a small loan and consulting from nonprofit WomenVenture.
"Yolanda is the ideal client," said WomenVenture Executive Director Elaine Wyatt. "She was struggling.
"She has a business that she knows how to run, but she was undercapitalized. She didn't have enough to get her through the bumps.
Maxwell, 45, is an experienced day care worker who had a home-based care center. She knew she could grow based on the number of parents she was turning away. She jumped at the chance to rent a building owned by a church on North Dale earlier this year.
Maxwell also, essentially, jumped into the start-up quicksand that slows or kills many inexperienced entrepreneurs.
Maxwell took over the space and started paying rent last December. But it took her until February to get all the requisite city licenses. Meanwhile, she struggled with start-up expenses, and she had fewer kids than she expected off the bat.