Gene Tremblay, president of Dallas-based TRB Financial, gives a presentation during the Banker’s Blueprint program at Dallas College. [Photo: Texas Regional Bank]
Capital is the lifeblood of small businesses, but obtaining it can be a challenge.
To address this issue, the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Dallas College and Harlingen-based Texas Regional Bank launched an accelerator designed to guide business owners through the funding process.
Blueprint for success
The Banker’s Blueprint: Access to Capital is an eight-week program aimed at helping established entrepreneurs understand lending requirements and prepare to pursue business financing. The program started in October with 30 owners of growth-stage businesses.
Participants learn through guidance from banking professionals and hands-on exercises. The curriculum shows them how to assess their financial position, define needs for capital and assemble financial documentation for lender-required business plans.
The Hispanic Chamber’s Venture Forward Accelerator, part of the organization’s Empowered CEO Institute, spurred the formation of Banker’s Blueprint. The inspiration: feedback from entrepreneurs who had completed business development programs but kept running into funding hurdles.
Through its collaboration with Dallas College, the program connects business education with the opportunity to earn college credit.
Confronting money challenges
Participants in the program’s inaugural group face a variety of funding challenges, such as a lack of banking relationships, limited understanding of financing requirements or unfamiliarity with gathering financial information.
“Many of the entrepreneurs we work with have built successful businesses through years of hard work, but reaching the next stage of growth often requires financial resources they haven’t been able to access,” Rita Castillo-Vela, a former elementary school principal who runs the Venture Forward Accelerator, said in a statement.
“We developed Banker’s Blueprint to help business owners better understand their financial position, prepare the documentation lenders need and approach financing opportunities with greater confidence.”
Overcoming lending obstacles
Texas Regional Bank is the program’s banking partner. Gene Tremblay, president of Dallas-based TRB Financial, a new Texas Regional Bank division that seeks to expand access to relationship banking, helped develop the accelerator’s curriculum and is its co-leader.
Businesses owned by Banker’s Blueprint participants represent an array of sectors, Tremblay told Dallas Innovates.
“We have owners of trucking, construction and professional services companies, and others who are facing credit gaps,” he said. “They don’t have equity or collateral. They can’t say how much capital they need or how they will pay it back.”
Tremblay said lending requirements have tightened recently. That has made it tougher for small businesses to access credit, particularly for Latino- and Black-owned businesses.
The effect is unintentional, he said, “but the strict requirements mean minorities are not encouraged to apply.”
“Many entrepreneurs are really good at what they do, but they are not educated on finances,” Tremblay said. “We want them to understand the lending process, recognize where they can strengthen their financial position and approach conversations about financing with a clear understanding of their options.”
Capping off the eight-week program
The initial eight-week program concludes Dec. 7-8 with Capital Ready Day. It’s a two-day showcase where participants will present financing proposals to a panel of bankers, investors and officials from community development financial institutions. Participants will also develop 90-day action plans that identify next steps for funding.
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