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Microlenders Give the Entrepreneurial Spirit a Boost in Milwaukee

misscupcakebakery.com
The Miss Cupcake bakery in Shorewood was able to open thanks to microlending.

There are many businesses that have almost everything they need to get off the ground – except for enough money.

But sometimes, it’s a relatively small amount that can mean the difference. Several groups in Milwaukee help facilitate microlending. 

"Microlenders are more of those entrepreneurial spirits. Let's give a chance, let's see what can happen within our local communities...let's be a part of that entrepreneurial spirit. And those individuals need business education, but they also need access to reasonable capital," says President and Chief Visionary Officer for the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, Wendy Baumann.

Ashley Weber-Dietrich, owner of a boutique bakery called Miss Cupcake in Shorewood, is one recipient of microloans.

"When I started, I didn't have the credit. I thought that not having all these credit cards...any loans was better off for opening the business," says Weber-Dietrich. "I realized that it was actually the total opposite."

Weber-Diertrich turned to microlending groups, such as WWBIC and Kiva Zip, when she was unsuccessful in securing traditional large scale loans from banks. The key difference that secured her financing was the organization's social underwriting model.

"We don't look at credit scores or traditional financial metrics. We really want to get down to the character of the person, their business ide, and how they can positively impact the community," says Kiva Zipfellow Lauren Stinson.

With the help of social underwriting and mircrolending, the Miss Cupcake shop was able to become a reality.

"They were pretty much kind of like my Cinderella story," says Weber-Dietrich. "You give a girl the right pair of shoes, she's able to change the world and that's kind of what they did for us."