MicroBiz Buffalo and the Jubilee Community Loan Fund, Inc. (Jubilee), one of its original founding members, joined forces in 2008 to create MicroBiz Buffalo, Inc.
MicroBiz Buffalo, Inc. (MBB) connects entrepreneurs to enterprise services and develops strategies, resources and relationships to promote the economic growth of Western New York through entrepreneurism.
A microbusiness is one that employs five or fewer people. Microbusinesses account for more than 50,000 of the nearly 61,000 businesses in Erie County. In other words, more than 82% of businesses are microbusinesses.
Developing diverse microbusinesses in Buffalo and Erie County is paramount to improving and ensuring the economic stability and growth of Western New York.
Growing a local economy requires a simultaneous effort on several fronts. For many local microbusinesses, their revenue comes from local patrons. To encourage neighborhood business growth and development, the local community will need to spend locally, thus investing in their neighborhood's prosperity. This prevents local dollars from leaving Buffalo and Erie County, which is also known as market leakage. Equally important is the need to attract more dollars into the local economy which will help our communities grow and flourish.
Resources such as expertise in developing marketing and business plans, capital development, and bookkeeping are regularly retained in-house by larger corporations. Microbusinesses, on the other hand, have budget restraints that might prevent them from either realizing or filling a need for resource expertise. Fortunately there are many organizations in the region devoted to cultivating business related resources, and providing them to the public.
One objective of MicroBiz Buffalo, Inc. is to gather these resource providers on one comprehensive web source, therefore making it easier for the microentrepreneur to start and grow their enterprise by generating awareness to the resources available in the community and connecting them to the appropriate provider. The MBB web site also acts as a promotional portal and incubator for individual stores that may or may not have other means of web visibility and commerce. Similar to a physical shopping mall, the MBB web site acts as the location for individual stores to set up their shop and sell their products directly to their customers.
With the overall objective being to nourish and foster microbusinesses, MBB has also created capital programs for existing and prospective microbusinesses, including the Robert Grimm Micro Equity Program (RGMEP), Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and Revolving Loan Programs which are community driven, not credit score driven. The MBB model of a community driven program gives power to capital investors to decide on the criteria for their investments. The capital investment communities work with MBB to create clear cut criteria that develop the needs of a particular business district, while the risk management (workshops, counseling, etc) would be administered by MBB.
Where there is insufficient capital or inadequate resources, MBB works to fill the need by initiating partnerships with other organizations or through in-house development.
Finally, MBB is also the means for good ideas to become good programs. Our Nets to Net Worth program combines the expertise of several organizations to teach inner-city youth the value of financial education through sports.
