Manny Flores, CEO of SomerCor, joins this episode of the CEO Roundtable Podcast.
Since 1990, SomerCor has been a non-for-profit small business lending company. Its mission is about providing access to capital for small businesses and entrepreneurs or as Manny calls them, “the dream builders and dream makers.” SomerCor helps them access a SBA 504 loan. The low cost financing helps entrepreneurs buy their own facility, hire more people and invest in local communities.
While there are plenty of for-profit companies like credit unions and banks that offer these services, the primary difference is the mission. As a mission-based organization their number one objective is what is truly in the best interest of the business, what is truly in the best interest of the community. Private companies may have similar goals but with shareholders and private owners, a lot of emphasis is put on profitability and what they can make for their investors.
As Manny explains, they can’t do it all themselves.
“We have a lot of different partners. We work with different economic development organizations. For instance, we're a partner, the city of Chicago. We're a partner of Cook County. We've worked with the department of commerce and economic opportunity.
One of the reasons why I think we're successful is that while we have a very dynamic and talented team we believe in collaboration. We believe in working with other organizations. We're not going to be able to do it by ourselves.”
Today SomerCor markets themselves mostly through word of mouth, through the Small Business Administration, and an overall grassroots advertising campaign.
“In my humble opinion and through my experiences it is really making sure that you are incorporating members of these communities as part of the initiatives and enterprises that are bringing about this reinvestment in our neighborhoods.“
Listen to this episode of the CEO Roundtable Podcast to learn more about SomerCor, how they’re helping small businesses of Illinois and about Manny himself.
