Call To Action

The summit also focused on the debt and equity needs of existing firms, particularly those in service sectors. Goals of the business finance initiative include:

1. Replicating existing successful state finance programs. "This means adding credit enhancers like SBA loan guarantees and creating more local collateral pools," says Lindsey Johnson Suddarth of Women Inc., a nonprofit organization for women entrepreneurs.

2. Creating a new model for lending that recognizes brains, ideas, people and contracts as assets.

3. Advocating the collection of loan data by race and sex.

Summit organizers also plan to use a Philadelphia program as a model for creating volunteer networks that connect women who have successfully completed the equity process with those seeking funding.

This article was originally published in the February 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Call To Action.