TEDC Partners with JPMorganChase in Helping Entrepreneurs Improve Credit Scores and Obtain Financial Health
Table of Contents:
A Single Number with Powerful Influence
A Firm Foundation in Financial Wellness
Building Generational Wealth Through Thriving Small Businesses
Learn More to Apply or Serve as a Mentor
Personal financial health can make or break an entrepreneur’s business success—especially if you have a low credit score. Through TEDC’s Personal Money Management for Entrepreneurs program, funded by a generous grant from JPMorganChase, Tulsa area entrepreneurs with a dream and drive are learning a healthy approach to personal and business finances.
A Single Number with Powerful Influence
Proper funding is the lifeblood of a business, making it possible for budding entrepreneurs to rent property, invest in equipment, and manage cash flow while their business establishes itself. Yet, traditional bank loans and even nontraditional funding may be frustratingly out of reach due to a simple but essential number in an entrepreneur’s life—their credit score.
If a credit score isn’t high enough, it can prevent funding opportunities and people from pursuing their small business dreams. This problem disproportionately affects low-to-moderate-income people in underserved communities, though it can undoubtedly affect anyone.
In partnership with JPMorganChase, TEDC’s Personal Money Management for Entrepreneurs program aims to change that by expanding its educational and mentoring offerings.
A Firm Foundation in Financial Wellness
The Personal Money Management for Entrepreneurs program, funded through a grant from JPMorganChase, will invest $405,000 over the next two years in TEDC’s educational offerings. The program equips individuals with the knowledge and skills to manage their financial resources effectively. Participants will focus on six key areas of financial wellness: budgeting, credit mindset, debt management, credit proficiency, credit planning, and personal financial development.
The program aims to serve 300 individuals over the next two years, selecting applicants with a credit score lower than 625 to participate. Ashley Townsend, Vice President and Community Manager for Chase bank in Tulsa, will lead sessions on repairing personal credit for business loans.
“If your personal finances aren’t together, your business is probably not going to be,” says Townsend, whose expertise in credit proficiency comes into play as she mentors small business owners. In her role, she helped the bank live out its $30 billion racial equity commitment towards closing the racial wealth gap in black and brown communities. She focuses on Tulsa and the surrounding areas and is passionate about helping people step into successful entrepreneurship.
“It’s an overall healthy goal that we’re trying to meet,” Townsend says. Through education and mindset shifts, entrepreneurs can build a strong foundation for their personal finances and raise their credit scores. That shift then translates to their business. “The habits people learn in their personal finances about budgeting, saving and credit are habits they’ll bring into their businesses as well,” says Townsend.
Building Generational Wealth Through Thriving Small Businesses
The program equips people with tools for managing personal finances, including mindset shifts and financial literacy skills, and it offers a community that supports entrepreneurs just starting out. That combination drew Amnoni Myers to apply. As a first-time entrepreneur, she realized she needed to learn more but didn’t know where to turn until she found TEDC’s new personal finances program.
“What drew me to the program was the fact that they were going to be supporting early entrepreneurs, not just with their business finances, but their personal finances,” Myers explains. “That was appealing to me because, as a first-time entrepreneur, I was so focused on building my business that I hadn’t always thought about the financial aspect of it personally.”
Through the program, Myers discovered that she needed to think beyond numbers and tackle her daily financial habits, mindset, and beliefs about what was possible.
“Sometimes when you hear about money, it’s very, very overwhelming,” Myers says. “But money doesn’t have to be scary, and it doesn’t have to be scarce. Now that I have more information about financial literacy, I feel so much better about the different options that are out there.”
For Townsend, the value in teaching financial health principles to budding small business owners lies in building generational wealth for the entire community. “Creating generational wealth in homes is not always just about the dollar amount,” says Townsend. “It’s about the knowledge you gain.”
Myers agrees, noting that by focusing on her financial well-being, she is setting herself up for personal success and making a difference. “In order for me to be able to give back to my community, I have to give back to myself,” says Myers. “That was what the classes taught me, and it’s been really, really fruitful.”
Myers urges anyone interested in starting a business to apply. “It’s foundational,” she says. It’s level-setting, and it’s informative.”
Learn More to Apply or to Serve as a Mentor
Anyone interested in determining their eligibility for the program can fill out an application to TEDC’s Personal Money Management for Entrepreneurs program. TEDC is also actively accepting volunteers to serve as mentors and accountability partners for the program participants.