The world, as business leaders and entrepreneurs have known it, is changing. In some ways, this should be expected – as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously said, “Change is the only constant in life.”
At this particular cultural inflexion point, though, economic instability and rising costs threaten to destabilize small businesses and solo entrepreneurs, leaving them scrambling in a way they may never have experienced before. Overworked and underpaid individuals may understandably be willing to abandon their efforts at sustainability or community impact, in favor of simply keeping their businesses afloat.
WACIF, the Washington Area Community Investment Fund, is offering business owners and entrepreneurs another way.
During an interview with The Riveo Impact Lab’s Elin Barton, two representatives of WACIF shared why they believe small business matters, how WACIF supports business efforts with programs and capital, and why sustainability is a “must-have.” In this blog post, you’ll learn how Megan Carras, WACIF’s Chief Development and Communications Officer and Head of Sustainability, and Geneva Greene, WACIF’s Sustainable Entrepreneurship consultant, got involved with WACIF, and how you can get involved directly and learn from the work that they’re doing in the DMV.
The Mission of WACIF
The Washington Area Community Investment Fund, or WACIF, is an organization that serves the mutually beneficial functions of supporting entrepreneurs and creating thriving communities.
According to Megan Carras, WACIF has been around the DMV area for almost 40 years, as a central part of what she calls the “small business ecosystem,” helping these businesses navigate economic transitions.
While WACIF is a Community Development Financial Institution, or a CDFI, it provides support far beyond the financial.
Megan explains, “We provide affordable and lower barrier to entry capital to small businesses within the DMV- the DC, Maryland and Virginia Greater Washington region. And we also provide technical assistance for small businesses. So that looks like one-on-one advising, coaching, group trainings, and we do an accelerator program as well to sort of help businesses who are at that scale level. And then we do a lot around ecosystem building and networking and making sure that we are helping small businesses be connected to business opportunities, partner procurement, etc.”
To Megan, the mission of WACIF intersects with community enrichment because small businesses are critical to the wellbeing of their communities. “We are missionally connected to community and here to serve community,” she says.
For Geneva Greene, WACIF has the additional and equally crucial purpose of supporting entrepreneurs so they are able to achieve “long term growth and success.” Geneva says of WACIF, “Everyone there has a real passion to support entrepreneurs to help us over the hump, and riding through some of the pathways and the challenges of long term success and the financing and the technical assistance that it takes to get there and be positioned for the future.”
What the mission of WACIF highlights is the idea that communities thrive when their small businesses thrive, and vice versa. The two are in a mutually dependent relationship, and WACIF is committed to serving each for the betterment of the other.
Education In Action
For both Megan and Geneva, their career journeys began in academia with a deep passion for sustainability and environmental studies, which eventually led them each to working with WACIF.
After obtaining master’s degrees in environmental policy and a PhD in Sustainable Development, Megan began to feel that while academia had been beneficial, it was keeping her from doing “the work on the ground.” Megan describes what she felt at that time as a “guttural need to make impact,” which is a quality she believes she shares with everyone at WACIF.
Initially, when Megan moved on from academia, she worked for a consulting firm in D.C. where she was able to put her skills in proposal building and project management to work in fundraising. It was here that she was introduced to the CDFI space and learned that these institutions had been in place since the 1990s, marking them as some of the first microfinance organizations.
“[I] immediately became excited by what it means to have capital for good,” Megan says, “and how to help small businesses because we know small business is second only to home ownership for wealth building. So there’s so much that can be done if small businesses are supported in terms of economic growth, in terms of empowering communities that are left behind.”
For Geneva, she remembers her interest in protecting the environment starting as a child, when she declared herself a Planeteer, from the animated TV show Captain Planet and the Planeteers. In the show, the hero works together with his planeteers to save the world from pollution caused by the show’s villains. Geneva kept that mission alive as she began her corporate career.
“I was working in a large corporation around energy generation, technology, safety controls and… other energy generation technologies,” she says. It was when Geneva left the corporate world to enter her PhD studies that she was selected as a National Community Reinvestment Coalition Fellow or NCRC and was paired up with WACIF. Geneva explains that she was placed with WACIF, “I think because of my energy and environmental background and to do research on understanding what entrepreneurs need to grow in the sustainability space…And so that research reflected some of the needs from a finance perspective, from a communications perspective, also from a technical assistance perspective.”
Geneva stayed with WACIF as she completed her doctoral studies, and as she completed her research.
By the time Megan and Geneva were connected to one another, it felt to both of them like a perfect match. “What I enjoy about Megan and I’s partnership is that Megan has the sustainability background.I have the communications and organizational development background,” says Geneva. This combination of skills and passions led the two to create WACIF’s Sustainable Entrepreneurship Program.
Sustainable Entrepreneurship
While maintaining a business in this economic climate may push entrepreneurs to see sustainability as an “extra,” that they don’t have time to consider, Geneva encourages business owners to look at it as not only financially viable, but beneficial.
“Increasingly, as we see costs grow economically, environmentalism or sustainability can no longer remain a luxury, as some people may think…If you think about it now, you can reduce your operations costs. You can find or discover other revenue streams. Globally, there are many aspects of the sustainability journey, of sustainability, of the green economy that are growing beyond some of our traditional markets.”
She’s quick to point out that the ability to be a sustainable business is not only for those in traditional environmental industries like solar panel or EV companies. “What we find with our sustainable entrepreneurs and others is sustainability is relevant across industries,” she says.
Megan says that it was this understanding of the relevance of sustainability for all businesses that compelled them to create a program that would assist small businesses in this area.
“Geneva and I had this idea of, what does it mean to bring the small businesses that we serve into the fold around sustainability? Because a lot of folks, to Geneva’s point, are interested, are doing sustainability already, just sort of need some additional support, some additional kind of knowledge building, and then also some capital and some other resources to help them navigate certifications, help them understand what it means to be linked to procurement. All of those pieces.”
Together, the two designed a research project which Geneva delivered that revealed WACIF’s need to focus on sustainability as crucial for small business development. To Megan, it is WACIF’s willingness to provide resources to programs like the Sustainable Entrepreneurship Program that speaks to the organization’s desire to meet the current needs of business owners. Megan reflects on another moment that WACIF chose to meet the most relevant needs, by creating the Pivot Program, which was designed to help federal employees who had been affected by the widespread government layoffs pivot to entrepreneurship.
WACIF remains positioned to meet the actual needs of people in the current moment, as well as to help business owners when the research reflects specific needs.
Refusing to Leave Small Businesses Behind
When it comes to opportunity and market transitions, small businesses are often left out. WACIF is working to make sure this changes. When it comes to the Sustainable Entrepreneurship Program, Megan explains, “We were able to secure funding from the Greater Washington Community Foundation because they believed in this idea that sustainability, sustainable entrepreneurship, the green economy space is another market opportunity for small businesses, and the small businesses that we serve- primarily low to moderate income small businesses- are often left out of these opportunities,” she says.
To further support small businesses and keep them from being left behind in the sustainability arena, Megan was able to create the first Head of Sustainability position for WACIF which she now holds, as well as design a new capital product called The Green Growth Fund, which is a loan with a 15% grant available upon loan repayment.
WACIF also provides webinars and a Green Growth Training program, ensuring that small businesses are not only financially, but educationally equipped.
In addition to all of these resources, WACIF developed a Sustainable Ambassadors Program (in which Riveo Creative takes part.) Geneva explains, “This is a group of individuals who are committed to sustainability. Some of them are kind of early on their sustainability journey. Some are a bit further in on their journey. But they’re able to exchange not only information with each other and support each other, but also educate the community about, ‘Hey, these are some opportunities. These are ways we can not only be good students of our environment, but also good economic stewards as well.’”
What Small Businesses Really Need
What Megan hears most when talking about the needs of business owners, the answer is clear – they need capital. Products like the Green Growth Fund have been created with this priority in mind. “The Green Growth Fund is a product that we really wanted to design that is more than a loan, certainly,” says Megan. “There is a cash influx available, that will hit your bank account essentially, and really bolster you in that moment….We have a very flexible approach to the way we also think about capital in terms of, if it’s for your operating costs, if it’s for infrastructure investment, etc. So if we can see the pathway to growth and the ability to bolster your business, and so that you can have the ability to repay and grow with the capital, that’s really the way we think about it.”
Megan wants it to be clear that while the Green Growth Fund is available to those already within the sustainability industry, they’ve also funded many other industries, like restaurants who want to invest in energy efficiency, plant-based products, catering, the beauty industry, and construction.
When Geneva considers small businesses, she recognizes another need – visibility.
“WACIF, through the Sustainable DC Project, partners with The Coalition formerly CNHED and we’ve had a series of conversations and opportunities, even a vendor connection day, to connect entrepreneurs with sustainable contracts… who value sustainability and who can match them on their sustainability path to contract them for different opportunities.”
What Communities Really Need
When it comes to understanding the intertwined nature of business and community, the DMV area provides an important example to follow. Geneva explains:
“There is such a culture of supporting and advocating for small businesses and entrepreneurs through visibility, through festivals, especially at a time like this. In the summer, you can go to any number of places across the city and see an entrepreneur selling their products, talking about their services, etc. …we call them small businesses, but not only are they operating on some smaller scales, but they have the opportunities to accelerate in very grand ways because there’s this convergence of all of these different industries, including the government locally in this region.”
Geneva believes that other communities would do well to follow in the footsteps of the DMV region and create a culture that is supportive of small businesses by highlighting them and purchasing from them whenever possible.
Megan agrees that small businesses are an essential part of a strong economy. She says, “DC has such a robust small business community, and we need to make sure that we’re continuing to patron them and to get out there and support it. So I would say that’s my call to community.”
To Megan, it’s also particularly important that communities put their support behind businesses that prioritize sustainability “to highlight to entrepreneurs that there is a benefit to being in this space.”
As a closing thought on the relationship between communities and small business success, Geneva points out a staggering statistic- more than 90 percent of businesses in the United States are considered small businesses.
“So if anyone ever says, ‘I can’t find a small business,’ I don’t think you’re looking, because between the online environment and then, as I mentioned, all of the potential in-person opportunities there are more than enough serving pretty much every industry that people can show up in support.”
Finding the Right Pathway to Success
While there’s no shortage of training or accelerator programs being offered to small businesses, these often aren’t specifically tailored to the individual’s unique business journey. WACIF wants to ensure that each person’s limited time and resources is used to their benefit and provides actual growth.
One way WACIF is doing this is through the Ecosystem Coordination Group. “We actually just started this work around,” says Megan, “how to better integrate the small business ecosystem across all the small business support organizations in the region…we are bringing in other financial providers and other TA [technical assistance] providers. And we’re having conversations and reviewing products and services in terms of – what are the gaps? Where are we duplicating efforts?”
Business owners need to have clear direction on what accelerators, programs, or connections are right for them, and how they can effectively move along their own path to business growth.
Megan says, “We are doing that work right now in terms of creating a better and more integrated ecosystem. And then there’s also a referral system that we’re trying to build within that as well. So if we have a small business come to us for capital, but they’re not quite ready for our capital because we do slightly larger than some of the really microfinance, then we’ll send them and refer them out accordingly.”
Megan is aware that oftentimes non-profits can struggle to provide all the structures needed by small businesses, even as they’re working hard to make a positive impact. WACIF is looking ahead to the next three years to incorporate these structures as effectively as possible.
“That’s WACIF’s commitment over the next three years, is to really work with the ecosystem to better integrate it.”
Geneva adds that these structures will also include sustainability and the ability for entrepreneurs to connect to one another with this value in mind. She says, “We are, with our continued programming, really striving to bring together more people who value sustainability and allow them to meet and connect with each other and find more ways to make them aware of those networks. So when they’re looking for a particular type of service they can easily find entrepreneurs who share their interest or their value around sustainability and work with them.”
The Meaning of Impact
Geneva and Megan share similar views when discussing what really counts as impact. For Megan, it starts with enabling entrepreneurs to thrive within their communities, and for non-profits like WACIF to continue to adapt and offer the services these businesses truly need.
She says, “When you encourage and enable entrepreneurship in communities, especially low to moderate income communities, you are enabling opportunity for household income growth for bolstering community in a new way. And we also know that we are fighting against some entities that are not aligned with small business. It is just critically important that we continue to do this work, show up, iterate, evolve our programming to respond to the needs… so that we can create those pathways for wealth building and along the way enable sustainability and more sustainable practices and businesses in the green economy who are representative of other communities..”
To Geneva, it is this idea of community from which she derives real meaning. She says, “I really center impact around people and community. I think if you are building programs, services, initiatives that address a need and an opportunity in our community that helps us all to live better together then that to me, is impact.”
Conclusion: Connecting with WACIF
WACIF is doing the work to make sure the small businesses and entrepreneurs can thrive in a way that benefits not only the individual organizations but communities at large. Even for those outside the DMV region, WACIF offers an incredible example to follow when it comes to supporting and advocating for small business growth and sustainable entrepreneurship. Real change starts in our own communities – so take a look around and see how you can be a part of creating a culture of sustainable local entrepreneurship!
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If you’d like to learn more about WACIF you can find them on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook, or you can visit their website and sign up for their newsletter to receive information on free trainings, the Office of Women’s Initiatives, Sustainable DC, the Pivot Project, the Ascend Accelerator, and more. You can also connect with Megan and Geneva individually on their LinkedIn accounts.
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