Small businesses and entrepreneurs have helped advance America by creating jobs, improving the standard of living for communities. However, it takes major capital and resources to launch a business, especially in underserved communities of color. Catherine Barnett addresses this challenge as the vice president of Project Enterprise, a nonprofit organization in New York. Barnett brings eight years of banking, marketing and corporate communications experience to oversee the program’s citywide services in micro loans, business development and networking opportunities. To date, Project Enterprise has loaned more than $1.8 million to low-income entrepreneurs in New York. Rolling out spoke with Barnett about key donor strategies and why opening a business isn’t her only measure of success.
What skills from your previous roles do you utilize in your current position?
All of those experiences prepared me for this job. Working in financial services allowed me to understand small businesses and their issues with capital. It helped me come up with different loan programs because of my background knowing that different businesses need different types of assistance. So we have a heavy focus on doing workshops and different aspects of marketing to help promote their business.
How has the tough economic climate impacted your donor strategies?
Communication is very key and we had to certainly reach out to our donors and keep them abreast of the work that we are doing. The staff has made personal sacrifices to keep costs down. We are also more aggressive with fundraising and looked at different funding sources to tap into foundations, individuals and corporations. This way, we are not dependent on only one source.
Not everyone who goes through the program and opens their business will have longevity. So how do you measure the success of your alumni?
What we are really doing is provide a center where people get to hash out ideas and get to obtain financing and other tools to make their businesses grow and launch. Sometimes people realize the idea is not as viable in this economy or climate but what we provide is a holistic education. With this toolkit, people can select lessons to help their business and to realize their dreams. We are proud of the way that we are able to deliver concepts so that they understand financial management a little better.
