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Happy Small Biz Week; CAMEO Events

  • Happy Small Business Week
  • Small Biz Lending Landscape, How Referral Fees Can Boost Volume
  • Micro Goes To Market, A Specialty Foods Conference in Watsonville
  • 20th Anniversary Celebration
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight is a reminder to fill out the microTracker census with your 2013 impacts. Email Andrew if you have questions.

Happy Small Business Week

The SBA kicks off Small Business Week in San Francisco next week on May 12 at Twitter for an SRO crowd. Check the SBA website for livestreaming information. Events in Kansas City, Boston and Washington, DC follow. They wrap up in the nation’s capital by honoring small businesses from across the country, culminating in the announcement of 2014’s National Small Business Person of the Year on May 15. In addition to the in-person events, the SBA will sponsor several webinars of interest to small businesses. Check out the full National Small Business Week conference schedule.

Small Biz Lending Landscape

One proven strategy to increase access to capital for underserved communities is to use modest referral fees. Referral fees serve as an important incentive for a local business owner to share information on available, high-quality financing with other business owners in their family, neighborhood, industry and/or ethnic community. By modifying the California Finance Lenders Law to allow business lenders to pay referral fees to their clients and partners (for successful business loan applications of $5,000 and above), it is possible to harness existing social capital to bring desperately needed financial capital to low income and minority communities.

CAMEO hosts Gwendy Donaker Brown from Opportunity fund for a webinar – “Small Biz Lending Landscape, How Referral Fees Can Boost Volume” on May 20, 2014 at 2:00pm.

Micro Goes To Market

Many CAMEO members are seeing an increase in clients in the food sector – from raw foods to wholesale products to artisan creations. CAMEO has teamed up with the Specialty Food Association and El Pajaro to offer up a full day of learning about the food industry: what business and marketing opportunities are available, how to stay viable and competitive, and where to secure financing.

Micro Goes to Market,
Specialty Foods Conference

May 28, 2014
9:00am – 4:00pm Conference
4:30pm – 6:00pm Networking Reception
Watsonville Civic Plaza

If you’re interested in starting a food business or work with food businesses, Micro Goes to Market is for you. Join us!

Learn more and register for the Micro Goes to Market, Specialty Foods Conference.

20th Anniversary Celebration

Judy WicksCome to Sacramento to celebrate 20 years of CAMEO. We have an amazing keynote lined up – Judy Wicks (bio), author of Good Morning, Beautiful Business of and Co-founder of Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). One might dare call her the godmother of the Go Local movement. We know she has plenty to say about the Do-It-Yourself economy.

The Goodies

New opportunities for training, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. I have posted a running tab of current Industry Goodies on the CAMEO website that lists items that were in past emails. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything, like grants whose deadlines are still alive!

CAMEO White Paper: Download Do-It-Yourself Economic Growth: How Communities Can Cultivate Their Talent and Thrive. Read it. Use it as a resource. Share it. The Do-It-Yourself Economy is built on a foundation of small, locally-owned, diverse businesses. CAMEO’s white paper focuses on why we need a new approach to economic development, explains the reality of small business and self-employment labor market trends, and delineates some of the tools that local economic developers can use to create a sustainable future for their regions.

Industry Conference: BALLE hosts Prosperity for All from June 11-13, 2014 in Oakland. The conference will dive deep into the most energized issues in the Localist movement today. Join CAMEO and BALLE to explore the challenges, emerging trends, opportunities and ways to rebuild our economic system in six critical areas: Finance for Resilient Local Economies; Ecosystems for Community Entrepreneurship; Leadership Development for a New Economy; a Localist Policy Agenda; the New Food Economy; and the Future of Ownership. Early bird rates end May 12th. Contact Shufina for information on how to apply for a professional development scholarship.

Communications Resource: If you don’t know about Aspiration, then check them out. They hold technology and communications workshops for non-profit at low to no-cost all around the state. Their next one is May 15, 2014 in Los Angeles – Nonprofit Workshop to Simplify Online Communications.

Healthcare Webinars: The Small Business Administration and Small Business Majority are committed to helping businesses navigate the changes and opportunities in health care through the webinar series What the Healthcare Law Means For Your California Small Business . It’s every two weeks in English and monthly in Spanish. The next ones are on May 21, 2014 at 10:00am and May 21, 2014 at 3:00pm respectively. Note the Small Business Health Option Program’s online enrollment function is on hold and will be back online in the fall. Businesses can still purchase insurance through the traditional paper process, working with your Certified agent or the SHOP Service Center.

Online Lending Webinar: GO-Biz’s Small Business Unit hosts a webinar on online business loans on May 22, 2014 at 12:00pm. One of the featured speakers is CAMEO’s microlending consultant Susan Brown. Learn more and register for Online Business Loans Right for Your Business?