LOAVES AND FISHES MINISTRIES, INC.

Business Initiative$

A program of Loaves & Fishes Ministries, Inc.
Click here to go to Business Initiative$ website

Business Initiative$, a fully realized microenterprise program, allows motivated individuals the chance to develop their own businesses as a step towards financial independence. Loaves & Fishes hopes as a larger goal to create wealth in the Asylum Hill community and in greater Hartford, to increase income at the household level, and to increase assets and number of businesses started.Business Initiative$ is filling a desperately needed niche, as we target low to middle income level residents in Hartford, a market not presently being addressed to its fullest. Our program's cost, at $40 for the entire course (including CEDF technical assistance prior to and following any loan) was determined in order to allow the greatest access to the market we hope to reach.

• appraisals between staff and potential borrowers,
• business education,
• microloans to qualified individuals,
• technical assistance to entrepreneurs,
• monitoring / loan repayments administration,
• follow-up meetings, and
• potential second step loans.

Business training components include business knowledge (information on how to start a business and then to develop it), basic accounting, access to markets, asset development, monitoring and evaluation, and finally personal effectiveness, including:

• time and stress management,
• setting priorities,
• communication, resume writing,
• self-presentation, and
• spirituality.

National surveys continue to find that a lack of skilled workers presents the greatest challenge to U.S. businesses, attributing the problem to a "skills gap"; in today's workforce. Significantly, the skills most needed today include: 

• responsibility
• punctuality
• interpersonal skills
• self-confidence
• self-management
• appropriate dress and grooming
• honesty and integrity
• ability to work without supervision
• adaptability, flexibility

From"Developing Employability Skills" February, 2004

Clearly, such skills are in great demand and need to be an integral part of any job training or entrepreneurial offering.

Loaves & Fishes collaborates with the Community Economic Development Fund (CEDF) and with Hartford Economic Development Corporation (HEDCO), both of whom administer our loan pool. In working with CEDF and HEDCO, we can accomplish much greater objectives, more efficiently and with greater focus, in collaboration with the experienced microenterprise practitioners who make up much of their staffs. CEDF will also provide technical assistance for our graduates. Once students have completed the course and written a formal business plan, they will be eligible to apply for loans of $1,000 to $5,000 to help start up their businesses. A panel, consisting of personnel from HEDCO, CEDF, and Loaves & Fishes Ministries, will make decisions on loan applications.

Clients progress through the training program to graduation. During the course of the training, CEDF technical assistance personnel will help to shepherd clients into the loan process, in order to facilitate the transition from a home-based experience to a "real world" business situation. When a client is ready (not necessarily immediately after program graduation), that client will present a business plan and loan package to the loan panel described above. Once a loan determination has been reached, the client will have continuing access to individual technical assistance through CEDF and Loaves & Fishes Ministries.

Business Initiative$ currently has completed eight full sessions, with forty-three graduates now in varying stages of business start-up. Several are actively moving towards loan applications. Our ninth session will begin on September 2004, and run through the fall.

Contact us for more information