The recent COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the difficulty minority and other traditionally underrepresented entrepreneurs and business owners face in trying to access capital to launch, maintain, grow and adapt their businesses. Forging strategic partnerships with majority- and minority- owned banks, credit unions, community development financial institutions (CFDIs), philanthropic organizations, Small Business Investment Companies, and social impact funds are activities necessary to fully bring the business owners into the business support ecosystem and to create resiliency to withstand economic interruptions, be it natural disasters, civil unrest or pandemics. The most difficult capital for new, emerging, and early phase entrepreneurs is patient capital to seed the growth and expansion of “home grown” historically underutilized businesses, including those identified as potential vendors in the supply chain management system. The Bull City Equitable Development Fund will provide such capital, thereby aligning with the overall strategy of Built2Last to create jobs, sustain jobs and grow wealth in the identified sectors and geographic sites identified.

The Built2Last Bull City Equitable Development Division will invest in historically underutilized companies that are either startups, emerging, early phase or encore in need of capital to succeed. We will partner with various financial institutions willing to invest in the nonprofit. We will manage risk by partnering with majority- and minority- owned banks, credit unions, CFDIs and a host of other such institutions that can show consistent earnings, diversified supplier and customer bases and attractive cash flow characteristics.