Announced in October 2022, the Initiative for Inclusive Entrepreneurship (IIE) is a national effort to expand access to capital for small businesses owned by people of color. IIE harnesses the power of public-private collaboration to ensure the equitable implementation of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s $10 billion State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), 40% of which is designated for businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SEDI). With leverage as a built-in strategy, every SSBCI dollar deployed is designed to catalyze $10 in private investment, with a 1:1 match required.
Authorized under the American Rescue Plan, SSBCI is primed to be the most significant small business program in US history. And its full potential can only be realized through public-private collaboration. Through IIE, the corporate and philanthropic investors can support capacity building, fuel innovative strategies and products, and invest the required matching capital that will ultimately strengthen the small business ecosystem, advance racial equity, and transform communities.
IIE’s 18-month pilot was incubated by Hyphen, a leading national public-private partnership accelerator. The initiative’s implementation partners include: Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative, Founders First Capital Partners, JumpStart, Mission Driven Finance, Next Street, Nowak Metro Finance Lab, and Scale Link.
Starting in July 2024, the Milken Institute began serving as IIE’s new home.
