FIELD Scale Academy: Opportunity Fund

Opportunity Fund

Scale-up Strategy:

Increasing the size of their potential market by expanding presence and penetration, and leveraging strategic partnerships to acquire new clients
Continue to build partnerships, including with high-quality technical assistance organizations, local chambers of commerce, and other strategic partners.
Targeting specific industries and ethnic communities, including developing or adapting products to serve those markets most effectively.
Build on model of successful targeting of and products for child-care businesses. Seek to target specific industries (flea markets, landscaping, janitorial, wellness), and ethnic communities (Vietnamese, Hispanic
Progress Update as of May 2008: The Opportunity Fund worked on geographic expansion, while continuing to focus on sector specific strategies to expand the size of its potential market:
Expanded into a broader service area, building new community partnerships, and developing new targeted marketing initiatives to reach a hard-to-reach clientele. Increased the number of loans made in new service area of San Francisco and Alameda Counties by almost 20 percent (74 loans, as of May 2008), and nearly doubled the number of low-income entrepreneurs in these counties receiving some level of business advising and technical assistance. Successful sector-specific loan products and services developed, including those targeting child care, trucking, flea markets and massage therapy businesses. “Hubs of commerce,” are being targeted to reach large concentrations of low-income, self-employed potential borrowers. These hubs can be defined by industry, ethnicity and geography, as well as other characteristics being identified through a comprehensive market research process.
Background: Largest microfinance institution in the Bay Area and largest provider of IDA accounts in the nation; certified CDFI focusing on microloans, IDAs and real-estate finance.

Core Microenterprise Services:

Credit builder and microloans
Individualized technical assistance
Financial education and IDAs
Business training

Highlights:

In 2004, began a concerted effort to increase number of microloan clients served; grew from 30 loans in 2004 to 120 in 2006. Strong targeting of business loans: 83% to minorities; 57% to women; 83% to low-income. Introduced credit builder loans and targeted industry marketing to child care, janitorial and other industries.

Current Scale:	Scale Projections:
FY2006: 225 clients and 120 microloans	FY2008: 360 clients and 180 loans
FY2007: 378 clients and 184 microloans	FY2009: 700 clients and 220 loans

Learning Questions:
Marketing effectiveness:What can we learn from others about recruiting clients, how to approach specific industries and ethnic communities?

Microlending systems: What types of systems - loan processing software, customer relationship management, systems for integrating data collection and community impact - are others using and what is their experience?

Staff capacities and organization: What are the right staff skills, hiring strategies, organizational strategies that are needed to build an efficient and sustainable staff team moving forward?

Increasing efficiency: do we gain more efficiency in underwriting and back-office operations?