Access to capital

Cash Flow

• Do you have the funds (after you pay your monthly bills) to pay this loan/line/credit card?

Collateral

• Do you have cash/home/commercial property that you can use as collateral?

Capital

• What is your income?
• Is your business making money or reporting all losses? (please do't do this)

Character

• Is your credit score 640 or higher with no late payments, bankruptcies, tax or child support payments in at least 3-5 years?
• Think of the 5-5-5 method
  • 5 years of no late payments
  • 5 open credit trades
  • 5 years of payment (don't let your credit just sit there)

Conditions

• Is the business you are opening a hobby or a necessity in your service area?

Borderplex Community Capital

 Borderplex Community Capital is a Community Development Loan Fund that supports economic development in El Paso County, Far West Texas, and Dona Ana County, New Mexico, by providing loans to impactful organizations that don’t meet the qualifications of traditional lenders. In particular, Borderplex Community Capital is committed to supporting nonprofits and small businesses operating in low-income neighborhoods. Borderplex Community Capital works to expand services, and therefore opportunities, to enhance the social fabric of the community.  

LiftFund

LiftFund is a private, independent, non-profit CDFI and Community Development Corporation (CDC) that supports small business owners with limited access to capital through small business loans and technical support for their dreams of entrepreneurship. 

PeopleFund

PeopleFund provides flexible loans to small businesses, startups and nonprofit organizations across Texas. They focus on women, minorities, veterans, and businesses in low to moderate-income areas to make sure everyone has a chance.

Project Vida Microenterprise Technical Assistance Program

The Microenterprise Technical Assistance Program (MTAP) encourages business development and economic expansion in El Paso County with funding from the City of El Paso's Community Development Block Grant program, United Way, financial institutions, corporations, and various private sources. 

* A microenterprise is a business with five or fewer employees. Owner must work full-time in the business and qualify based on HUD income guidelines. 

Saba Investments

Saba Investments is an early stage venture capital fund structures to identify and cultivate untapped investment opportunities in the Rio Grande Innovation Corridor, stretching from Albuquerque to El Paso-Ciudad Juarez. They look to invest in early stage companies that have some find of revenue and/or proven business model. They do limit their investments to $200,000 USD.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 

The Small Business Advocacy Office is an independent office via the bipartisan SEC Small Business Advocate Act to advance the interests of small businesses and their investors at the SEC and in the capital markets, from early-stage startups raising initial capital to later-stage private companies whose founders and investors are seeking liquidity, all the way to smaller public companies. The Office proactively works to identify and address unique challenges faced by women-owned, diverse, rural, and natural disaster area small businesses and their investors.