Ellis Carr is now the president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance. Kurt Chilcott, formerly president and CEO of CDC Small Business Finance, has transitioned to Board Chair of the combined organization. We invite you to learn more about our new enterprise at www.investedincommunities.org
CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners recently announced a new alliance between the two companies.
We recognized that we had a special opportunity to create greater change together than we could individually in the communities we serve and beyond. This is an exciting journey we are embarking on and we want to share how the idea of creating an alliance came about and our vision for the future.
Introducing “A New Alliance,” the first of our new CEO Conversations video series featuring CDC Small Business Finance’s CEO Kurt Chilcott and Capital Impact Partners CEO Ellis Carr.
Watch the video or read their conversation below as they discuss how the two organizations came together to form the new alliance. You can also watch the whole video series here.
Introducing “A New Alliance,” a new CEO Conversations video series featuring CDC Small Business Finance’s CEO Kurt Chillcot and Capital Impact Partners CEO, Ellis Carr.
Kurt:
We’re here today to talk to you about an exciting new alliance between CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners. I wanted to share with you how that idea and concept, which we are really excited about, started.
CDC Small Business Finance has been looking for ways to increase our impact and to go to the next level in terms of our efforts to help small businesses with access to capital and assistance across the country.
We were working with Next Street on a strategy to do just that. As a result of that process, and our continued outreach, I was really fortunate to meet Ellis and continue to learn about the work of Capital Impact Partners.
We looked at what Capital Impact Partners was doing. Particularly, with regards to their deep place-based work and regards to their incredible track record with capital innovation and really bringing capital, at scale, to communities.
We said – we like that, we like what they’re doing. We think that if we put our two organizations together, we could really accelerate our strategy in a way that we could never achieve alone.
We started a journey together that’s brought us up to this point today.
Ellis:
I’m really excited about the opportunity to chat with you all today and particularly to talk about how Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance came together.
From a Capital Impact perspective, it’s been a long time coming. We are an organization who prides itself in doing work largely across the country. About five years ago, we were funding loans in about 35 states across the country.
We realized that for us to really increase impact and to be able to move the needle as it related to underserved communities, we needed to focus on place. We began the journey of focusing our efforts in five key regions across the country, centering our work in equity and racial justice.
As a result of that effort, we realized that communities not only needed the essential support of quality housing, educational opportunities, health and food opportunities, but they also needed opportunities to build and develop wealth. We believe that wealth development in particular, lends itself to greater self-determination and autonomy.
Those were exactly the things that CDC Small Business Finance brought to the table. A scaled approach and a discipline around helping businesses and communities develop and thrive.
After sitting down and having an opportunity to work with Kurt and the rest of the management team at CDC Small Business Finance, we realized that our mission, vision, and values were completely aligned.
As Kurt has mentioned, we could do more together than we could ever do independently. That’s why I’m really excited about this opportunity and how this wonderful alliance came to be.
UP NEXT: ADDRESSING THE WEALTH GAP AT SCALE
Keep an eye out for our next episode, CEO Conversations: Addressing the Wealth Gap at Scale.
