Just so our readers can get to know you a little better, can you please give us a little background on who you are and what your role is at Accessity?
I’m Rosalinda Delgado, the business development manager at nonprofit lender Accessity. My role is to lead our business development team of five and develop ways to increase Accessity’s impact and relationships with community groups and other small business resources. Accessity offers small business loans from $300-$100,000 and a community of support and educational resources in four counties in Southern California: Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego.
We know you were previously known as Accion serving Southern California. Can you please tell us more about the change to Accessity?
We are still the same organization that has operated in SoCal for the last 27 years with the same leadership, staff, and mission to empower small business owners. Our new name Accessity, intentionally combines the word “access” and “ity” from the word community. Our new logo represents the entrepreneurial spirit and a diverse community coming together to serve as catalysts for launching and growing businesses, as displayed in the colors and design.
What would you like people to know about Accessity? What makes Accessity different?
Accessity is here to help entrepreneurs access capital through loans for startups and growing businesses when they are unable to obtain funding from traditional sources. Our goal is to create jobs and improve entrepreneurs’ lives, especially to people of color, women, and immigrant entrepreneurs, so they can build prosperous businesses and livelihoods for themselves and their families, while also strengthening our communities.
Our entire process, from application to disbursal, can be completed in Spanish. In addition, we have staff who speak six other languages to work with business owners in their native language.
Another thing that sets Accessity apart is that we can lend to startup businesses. Many organizations are only able to lend to businesses with two or more years of operation, so we can work with these businesses to get started.
Through a personalized approach, our clients work with a local lending expert who support them to find the right solutions for their needs depending on their business journey. Ultimately, we want to help businesses that will create jobs and achieve their dreams through entrepreneurship.
Who do you know at Primary Funding? How did that relationship come about?
I know Fernando Ponce through his past work in the banking industry. When he started at Primary Funding, we continued to keep in touch. This was especially beneficial as Fernando is bilingual and many of Accessity’s clients speak Spanish.
We were recently able to work together to help a company based out of Oceanside, Strand Sports. Strand Sports manufactures patented golf training devices through wholesale and retail, including its website www.swingtrainer.com.
Accessity was able to fund Strand Sports with a small business loan to purchase inventory and launch its new product. PFC was able to supplement the loan with factoring, so the client was able to fulfill the new product orders in a timely manner.
Fernando also helped them find a factoring loan with Oxygen, and they are now able to take advantage of that to generate international sales.
If someone wants to learn more about Accessity’s services, what should they do?
Anyone who is interested in learning more about Accessity can connect with a business development officer to have a conversation about what your business needs. Even if you aren’t ready for lending quite yet, we can point you in the right direction to local resources and other ways you can get ‘loan ready.’ You can connect with a BDO by filling out this form on our website here.
Another way is to learn more about Accessity is to visit our website at accessity.org, where you can find out more about our loan program and our work in the region.
Any parting thoughts or information you’d like to share with us?
We strive to provide the best possible service to small businesses. When Accessity is not a good fit, we reach out to other resources to find solutions for our clients. The most important thing to us is doing what’s in the business owner’s best interest.
