A policy brief which highlighted barriers faced by entrepreneurs from historically under-financed backgrounds and provided some recommendation was written by Winifred Soribe. On the 30^th of March, we all tuned in to hear from key entrepreneurial finance stakeholders during a roundtable discussion focusing on the policy brief, replay can be found here. Our expert panellists represented notable financial institutions comprising of Jenny Choi – Special Counsel, Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dennis Joyce - Director of Investments for Tacoma Venture Fund, Julia Terlinchamp - Director of Strategic Initiatives and Small Business Grants/ Director of Agricultural Innovation at the Washington State Department of Commerce, Jenefeness Tucker - Vice President of Community Relations and Public Affairs at Seattle Credit Union, Kerrie T. Hurd - Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration in the Seattle District Office and Lisa Smith – Executive Director of Washington State Microenterprise Association.

The discussion was kicked off by Jenefeness Tucker from Seattle Credit Union who emphasised the “adverse to risk” nature of banks and why they required proof in the form of collateral, mid to high credit scores and high interest rates before borrowing you money. She highlighted the importance of reflection before taking debt finance by asking yourself “Do I really need the money? I know a lot of entrepreneurs that have taken out debt and when the business isn’t going as planned, they walk out, but guess what the debt walks right with them”.

Kerrie T. Hurd from the SBA advocated for preparedness as a path to avoiding rejections often associated with debt finance. She highlighted several no-cost SBA funded support provided by Small Business Development Centres such as Women's Business Centres, Veterans Business Outreach Centres, Ventures, and SCORE chapters “which helped you get ready for loans" from micro-lenders and traditional bank through adequate research and financial planning. Having run her own loan brokering company in the past, Kerrie recapped experiences of her loan application to a bank being rejected despite it being her field of operation. This was due to insufficient amount of research conducted before applying to financial institutions “You need to know what the financial institution is willing to fund”.

Julia Terlinchamp with the Washington State Department of Commerce announced the soon-to-be-available Working Washington Grants: Round 5 with $70 million appropriated by the legislature; $45 million of the appropriation has been directed to eligible businesses and non-profit organizations in the arts, heritage, and science sectors, including those that operate live entertainment venues, in addition to the existing Flex Fund Program. The Flex Fund has been designed to financially assist small businesses affected by Covid 19 with up to $150,000 at 3% - 4% interest rates repayable over a 60-month period and can be used on a variety of business needs such as payroll, rent, utilities amongst others.