New Address: Two Embarcadero Center, 8th floor, San Francisco, CA 94111     

Ms. CAMEO Goes to Washington

Heidi is in DC this week talking about responsible business lending  with colleagues from the Responsible Business Lending Coalition – Joyce Klein from Aspen Institute, CAMEO board member Louis Caditz-Peck from Lending Club, Gabe Villarreal from Opportunity Fund, and Renee Johnson from Small Business Majority. “We talked about why disclosure is so important (fast, easy

Jake Reisdorf, Carmel Honey Company

Carmel Honey Company (CHC) grew out of a passion for bees and earning good grades.  As a 5th grade student at Carmel River Elementary, Jake was given a real-world homework assignment to research the education and daily duties of a website designer. During his research, Jake designed a website about honey bees and shared his site and knowledge with his classmates. The students were so impressed, they thought Jake was in a business and asked to purchase honey. His research and classmate interest stimulated Jake to purchase honey bees, continue his extensive research/study and ultimately, start a real for-profit business with his parents.  Today, Jake personally services over 100 bee hives along with maintaining more than 100 wholesale accounts which are primarily specialty stores and professional restaurant chefs. On weekends and holidays, Jake and his family (mom, dad and sister) routinely sell at local events throughout Monterey County. CHC honey is now branded and widely recognized as a premium honey brand being all natural, raw, and unfiltered.  CHC’s unique selling proposition is, “honey straight from the hive”.

The President’s Budget

The President’s FY2020 Budget was released on Monday. The budget gives SBA a 5% cut in overall funding. Although the total number listed ($820 million) is an increase from FY19, the Administration plans to increase fees across SBA’s business loan programs in order to technically reach the “net” decrease of funding to $665 million. The Agency Appendix, which breaks

A Summary of the Hearing on the SBA Microloan Program

“In the twenty plus years the program has been in existence, it has grown significantly and as we heard today some of the rules governing the program have not kept up with its growth. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find policy solutions that will thread

Women Entrepreneur Success Stories

Four out of every 10 businesses (40%) in the United States are now women-owned. These businesses employ 8% of the total private sector workforce and contribute 4.3% of total revenues. Without a doubt, women are a vital part of the economy. Yet, women entrepreneurs face significant barriers to growth and success, including lack of access

The Fight for Net Neutrality Gets New Life

House Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) announced Monday, that a new net neutrality bill will be introduced to the House on Wednesday. This follows a busy February when both the U.S. Court of Appeals and Congress took up the issue. “The big deal is that all customers, all websites must be treated the same. No blocking or slowing of internet speeds.

Tax Day Is Coming

With tax season in full swing and Tax Day five weeks away, the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts are becoming known. For small business owners, this has meant confusion over the pass-through deduction and several repealed deductions for things like employee meals and transportation expenses. Research shows that small business owners prefer

Carolina Martinez’ Testimony Before the House Committee on Small Business

Written Testimony of Carolina Martinez Before the House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access “Small but Mighty: A Review of the SBA’s Microloan Program” March 7, 2019 Chair Kim and Ranking Member Hern, members of the Subcommittee, my name is Carolina Martinez and I appreciate the opportunity to testify on behalf