Sandra Font, Director of ACE Women Business Center Helps Entrepreneurs Create Jobs and Opportunities for Low to Moderate Income and Underserved Populations.
Interviewed By Maryan Aiken
ACE provides capital, coaching and connections to help borrowers create and grow sustainable businesses that generate jobs
Sandra Font
Director, Women’s Business Center
Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs, Inc.
Company Established: 1999
678.335.5600
www.aceloans.org
ACE Women’s Business Center Social Media Handles:
https://www.facebook.com/WBC000/
https://www.instagram.com/acewbc/
Eric Voss Photography
ABOUT ACE
Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs, Inc (ACE) is a Georgia 501(c)(3) nonprofit and Community Development Financial Institution that is a mission-based lender. ACE provides capital, coaching and connections to help borrowers create and grow sustainable businesses that generate jobs. The Women’s Business Center (WBC) is the educational arm of ACE. Our mission is to empower women, minorities, and low-to-moderate income entrepreneurs through financial education and training. We are part of national network of 141 WBC's in the country, all partially funded by the SBA. ACE hosts two WBC’s in Georgia, one that covers the Metro Atlanta area, and we have another one that covers the Savannah region. We both focus on helping women in 3 phases of a business: Planning, Implementation and Growth.
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Q: What’s the most exciting service/product offerings at ACE
At ACE we give business owners a chance when others can’t! ACE funds small businesses that cannot access bank financing, primarily because they cannot meet bank underwriting thresholds for collateral, loan to value and debt to income ratios, years of profitable business history, and credit ratings. We offer small business loans from $15K to $1M. Most recently, the most exciting things happening since the pandemic has been our partnerships to get more capital out to more small businesses. We’ve worked with many counties and funders on programs to get COVID relief funds into the hands of entrepreneurs as emergency loans, interest buydown and payment relief programs and grants. We also partnered with the SBA to fund $15.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans and have worked with the businesses to complete the forgiveness process on 99% of them!
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Q: · Who are your ideal clients?
At ACE we assist everyone, but our ideal clients are women, people of color, and low to moderate-income business owners. Through the Women’s Business Center (WBC), our main focus is to champion and empower women, but we provide support to men as well.
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Q: What’s been the most memorable client that ACE has served and explain why?
There are many memorable clients! Most of our clients reach out to ACE when they want to start a business, expand it or when they can’t obtain funding through traditional lenders. When I first started at ACE WBC, there was a client who attended our Access to Capital training, she was a personal trainer and wanted to open a gym. As she did not have a good credit score, we referred her to a partner organization to work on ways to improve her overall credit. Throughout that time, she did everything we asked her to do. A few months later, when her credit had increased, she came back with a guarantor and was able to apply for her first loan and start her gym. A couple of years later, she reached out again because she wanted to expand, and to obtain a second loan. Throughout this time, she has attended educational trainings and taken advantage of all the services we offer at ACE. The clients who invest in themselves are the ones who grow, and their businesses will grow as well.
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Q: What do you find most rewarding about your work?
I am very fortunate to have a job I love! ACE has grown as an organization, and I have grown professionally as well. The most rewarding thing about my work is to help women start their businesses and grow them by providing training, coaching, capital, connections, tools, and resources to help them succeed. It is so empowering to see that people’s dream become a reality, and you have helped throughout the process. The impossible is possible with hard work!
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Q: If you can do over something in the past, what will it be and why?
You learn from past experiences whether they are good ones or bad ones, if it wasn’t for these experiences I may not be where I am today. The mistakes or regrets have helped me become the person I am today and has made me stronger. In life, everything happens for a reason, we need to learn from our mistakes or regrets and strive to do better.
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Q: What projects are you working on this year that you’re most excited about?
Currently we are working on the logistics to host our ACE Annual Speed Coaching Event on August 25th, 2022. Business owners will have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with business coaches in 30-minute increments to discuss strategies and solutions that are right for their businesses. Participants will rotate among volunteer coaches throughout the evening. Visit our website to register!
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Q: What is the ultimate vision for ACE?
ACE’s vision has been to create a ripple effect that not only has a positive impact on the individuals ACE serves directly, but also on their families, their employees, and their communities. We focus our efforts and service on helping entrepreneurs create jobs and opportunities for low to moderate income and underserved populations.
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Eric Voss Photography
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Q: Who are your mentors that impacted your professional/personal journey and explain why?
First and foremost, my parents, two very hard-working individuals who raised four children and instilled in us that with hard work, to do it with passion and determination- and with this you can accomplish anything. My parents started their own business when they were in their 50’s, and I vividly remember the challenges that they faced to launch a business. They had no guidance, no start-up funding, and no experience on how to operate a business. With the support of family and friends they launched it, and 30+ years later, my two brothers are continuing my parent’s legacy. My own family experience reminds me everyday of how fortunate we are to live in a country that provides so many resources to business owners. I am blessed to work for an organization that helps people create and grow businesses and make their dreams a reality. I have also been very fortunate that along my professional career, I have had incredible supervisors who have always mentored me, believed in me, and pushed my boundaries to strive to be the best I can be.
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Q: Places that you enjoyed visited locally & globally and explain why?
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