Empowering South Bend entrepreneurs: Notre Dame loan partnership aims to fuel opportunity, deepen community engagement

Raymond Barbour knows the impact a well-timed loan can make for a small entrepreneur. Barbour, the owner of Ko’s Port-a-Pit Barbecue, plans to build a new trailer that will help him haul his slow-cooked pulled pork and smoked ribs around the South Bend area to better serve customers. So he was pleased to learn about a University of Notre Dame initiative that will provide loans to help small local entrepreneurs scale up their operations.

“The smallest thing can make the biggest difference,” said Barbour, a graduate of the South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program, which is administered by the McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business, part of the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. “The right timing is everything. When you have the financing, you can take things to the next level.” That’s the goal of the loan initiative, said Michael H. Morris, professor of the practice at the Keough School. It is an expansion of the Jubilee Initiative for Financial Inclusion, a longtime program run by students in Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. Although the Jubilee Initiative began as a way to teach financial literacy and assist local residents with emergency expenses, the new loan initiative, which will begin in September, will broaden this work to include supporting graduates of the South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program, Morris said. Entrepreneurs can apply for 24-month loans of up to $1,500 for revenue-generating, non-recurring expenses; and, if they pay the loans off as agreed, interest will be waived. The new initiative will provide up to five loans per year, and more information on how to apply will be available this fall. “Even small amounts of cash, say $1,500 or $2,000, can make a significant difference, particularly for entrepreneurs who don’t qualify for conventional lending and who don’t have the personal networks that can enable them to access other sources of funding,” Morris said. “We teach people to be resourceful and leverage all the resources they can, whether it’s cooking in a church kitchen or adopting unconventional marketing tactics to gain visibility. But money is tight for the entrepreneurs with whom we partner. Most of them can’t get a traditional business loan, even from their local credit union. So a quick infusion of cash can really help them gain traction.” Often, Morris said, such loans might help entrepreneurs with much-needed equipment purchases. That’s the hope for Barbour, who needs to acquire additional parts he can weld together as he builds his new trailer. It’s also something Jamie McKinstry thinks about.

McKinstry is the owner of Jetta’s Kettle Corn, a home-based business she launched after a 30-year career driving buses for the South Bend Community School Corporation. She started the business — its name being a combination of her first initial and her middle name — as a way to make income in retirement. Now she sells her sweet and salty treats, which are organic, gluten-free and vegan, at area locations including the South Bend Farmers Market. “People see me out and about in the area,” said McKinstry, another graduate of the South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program. “What they don't see is how I use a kettle pot to make the corn. I make sure everything comes together just right, and then I package and label it so that it’s ready for my customers. All that requires equipment. If I were to get additional funding, I would modernize my equipment. I would also like to purchase a miniature school bus and turn it into a mobile kettle corn vehicle.” Students who work with local entrepreneurs are excited about the loan initiative. Louis Rauch, a senior finance major and the CEO of the Jubilee Initiative, welcomed the chance to collaborate with the McKenna Center through its downtown South Bend Collaboration Hub. “We are enthusiastic about utilizing student consultants at the Collaboration Hub to help clients navigate our loan process,” Rauch said. Marshall Smith, a senior international economics major, also welcomed the partnership. “As we move forward with these entrepreneur loans,” he said, “we have an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with the local community.” Deepening community engagement is the key, said Kristen Collett-Schmitt, the Jubilee Initiative's faculty adviser and associate dean for the undergraduate and specialized master’s programs in Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. The loan initiative will provide important opportunities for students to partner closely with members of the South Bend community, she said. “The Jubilee Initiative for Financial Inclusion has long served as a powerful model for community engagement, providing Notre Dame students with practical experience in making a positive impact in South Bend through affordable loans and financial education,” Collett-Schmitt said. “The addition of the business loan initiative, in partnership with the South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program, marks a transformative step, enabling students to directly fuel the growth and innovation of our local entrepreneurs.”   Originally posted on Keough News.