CEO Conversations: Redefining the Paradigm

Check out our 4th episode of our “CEO Conversations” series, “Redefining the Paradigm.” Listen to CDC Small Business Finance’s CEO, Kurt Chilcott and Capital Impact Partners CEO, Ellis Carr discuss the alliance’s goal to use new mechanisms to unlock impact capital so it can be effectively utilized in underserved communities.  

Watch the video, or read the transcript below to hear Kurt and Ellis’s discussion.

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Kurt:

One of the big aspirations that both you and I have is how do we unlock, right? How do we unlock that investment capital that we know is sitting there and that is now, probably more than ever before in our careers, ready to deploy. 

And yet, we potentially do not have the mechanisms to be able to effectively deploy that investment capital. This is another piece of our work together that I think is really critical. I wonder if you would just elaborate on that a little bit.

Ellis:

Absolutely. Thinking about our history and track record at Capital Impact around capital and development, we’ve been extraordinarily successful in accessing the capital markets. Both from individuals and also institutions. 

A little over three years ago, we created the Capital Impact investment. It is an S&P rated notes offering, which is a debt instrument, that is offered on a monthly basis to both retail and institutional investors. 

Over that time, we’ve raised over $170 million from the likes of individuals making investments of as little as $1,000 to institutions and socially conscious mutual funds that are looking to invest over multimillion-dollar investments. 

We are really proud of that track record because we’ve been able to connect the traditional capital markets to communities and give other investment opportunities to folks who are not only wanting to invest their dollars but invest them into things that they really care about. We are able to do this through the Capital Impact notes offering.

As Kurt and I have sat back and thought about how we can leverage that capacity over time, coupled with CDC Small Business Finance expertise in leveraging large amounts of capital through SBA, we begin to envision a world where we can redefine the credit paradigm in this country.

Thinking about ways to unlock and utilize that impact capital to invest in underserved communities where there really is an opportunity to highlight the disparity that currently exists between real and perceived risks.

Both Capital Impact and CDC Small Business Finance have, over the course of their histories, effectively debunked this with other CDFIs and mission-based organizations. 

Because we as an industry have lacked the scale, we have not been able to begin to change the narrative in this country around how credit can and should be provisioned. 

This opportunity with the alliance allows us the opportunity to do that. Leveraging Capital Impact’s knowledge and expertise coupled with CDC Small Business Finance’s strong knowledge of small business and providing capital to small businesses across the country at scale.

CEO CONVERSATIONS VIDEO SERIES

To learn more about the new alliance, watch other videos from the series:

• CEO Conversations: A New Alliance
• CEO Conversations: Addressing the Wealth Gap at Scale
• CEO conversations: What Problems We’re Solving

UP NEXT: Disrupting the Distribution Channels

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