Bucking The System Small Business Investment Companies pick up where traditional banks leave off.

When Henrick Coriolan immigrated to the United States from Haitinearly 20 years ago, he came with nothing. Nothing, that is, butthe entrepreneurial spirit and a dream of turning himself into asuccessful businessman. "I came to work, to learn and to be aprofessional," he says.

Today, with a small New York City taxicab fleet and an autoservice center in Brooklyn, New York, Coriolan has achieved successby almost any yardstick. It took a lot of hard work, to be sure.But it also took capital. Coriolan got his, thanks to the federalgovernment's venture capital programs. More important, hisexperience may provide a guide for other entrepreneurs looking fora place to go when banks say no.

Coriolan raised funds through a Specialized Small BusinessInvestment Company (SSBIC), which is licensed by the SBA. He couldhave also tapped a plain old Small Business Investment Company(SBIC), also licensed by the SBA. The first "S" in theformer title refers to "specialized" firms thatconcentrate on making funds available to economically disadvantagedpeople. Because Coriolan was an immigrant and an African-American,he qualified under the SSBIC program.