SBA event a hot date for businesses

ALL THAT GLITTERS: Amy Beth, left, from Maggie Models, wears some of Fashion In Prov’s  designs. Fashion In Prov CEO Laura Conte, right, will be  attending the Matchmaker Fair  in hopes of getting a cash  infusion for her business. / COURTESY MYKE YEAGER
ALL THAT GLITTERS: Amy Beth, left, from Maggie Models, wears some of Fashion In Prov’s designs. Fashion In Prov CEO Laura Conte, right, will be attending the Matchmaker Fair in hopes of getting a cash infusion for her business. / COURTESY MYKE YEAGER

The Matchmaker Fair scheduled for Oct. 4 in Warwick could also be called “speed dating for small business,” said Mark S. Hayward, Rhode Island district director for the U.S. Small Business Administration.
“It’s a 15-minute opportunity for someone who has a business plan or wants to take a business to the next level to meet one on one with a commercial lender,” said Hayward. “That gives them 15 minutes to say, ‘This is who I am. This is what I do. This is what I want.’
“This is different than anything we’ve ever done,” said Hayward. “We always put lenders and potential borrowers together, but this is the first time we’ve done it in a speed-dating method.”
Fashion In Prov CEO Laura Conte is going for it at the Matchmaker Fair – she’s clear on who she is as a jewelry designer and wholesaler and is ready to take her business to the next level so she can increase design, sales and distribution.
Her company is only three months old, but she’s learned the jewelry business from members of her family and already has relationships with manufacturers in China – so she has to produce.
“I’m facing a very pivotal decision,” said Conte. “Interest in my products is increasing, and I’m attending the SBA event to see if I can get capital to hire people.
“As a small-business owner, I wear all the hats now. I really need to hire people full time for sample-making,” said Conte. “After I come up with a design, I have to have samples – one for me, one for the customer and one for the factory in China.”
As a wholesaler, Conte works in big orders for her designs for jewelry, including earrings, watches and belts. She’s also building her brand of embellished apparel, like a vest she made of beads and chains that took 55 hours to complete. The woven vest, which she created by looping beads and linking them to chains, is part of a collection she plans to introduce at Style Week in Providence in January.
“I’m doing a bit of juggling right now,” said Conte, who has her design studio in a mill in Pawtucket. “I have to cover rent and supplies, and when I have an order from a catalog customer, I might have to have 50,000 pieces of jewelry in three months. “I have orders coming in, but we don’t see receivables coming in yet,” she said. “So I’m weighing my options.
“A private investor will want an investment in the company, or maybe it’s better for me to go with a bank,” said the 32-year-old Conte. “I’m young, so I don’t have a lot of personal assets yet – but I have talent and history of cash flow, a solid business plan and commitment.”
Those points are going to be a key part of her story, one that more and more financial institutions want to hear. “Speed-dating events – the idea of a personal contact, even though it’s brief – have become very popular for business matchmaking for many businesses,” said Greenwood Credit Union President and CEO Jim Irving. “It creates more opportunities for a positive connection to be made in that one particular situation.
“We still find that we may need and want to spend time with our members who need loans, to make sure we understand each other completely,” he said. “That’s important to us because Greenwood Credit Union is very interested in working within the small-business community and on their specific lending needs for small and medium-sized loans.”
Conte will be one of a maximum of 50 entrepreneurs at the Matchmaker Fair. Time and space are limited because each participant will be able to meet with up to six lenders.
“This is unusual because it will be the lenders meeting directly with the small-business borrowers,” said Hayward. “We usually do matchmaking with businesses and government contractors.”
An advantage for the entrepreneurs is that a variety of lenders will available to discuss business plans and some will naturally be better matched to some of the ventures, said Hayward.
“Lenders will range from those who lend large amounts to those who do microloans. That offers a lot of options and a lot of potential for the small businesses to find a lender who’s a good match for them,” said Hayward.
A dozen banks are participating in the Matchmaking Fair: Bank of America, The Business Development Co., Citizens Bank, Coastway Community Bank, Freedom National Bank, Greenwood, Ocean Capital, Independence Bank, Pawtucket Credit Union, South Eastern Economic Development Corp., Sovereign Bank and Webster Bank. The event is not for entrepreneurs still at the idea stage, but for those who are clear about their product or service and their plan. That will make the most of the time with the lenders, said Hayward.
“This gives the small businesses a good opportunity to find a lender who is serious about financing their particular business,” he said.
All participants must have a completed business plan that has been reviewed by a member of SCORE, the Center for Women & Enterprise or the R.I. Small Business Development Center. An application form must be completed in its entirety.
The Matchmaker Fair, which is free, will be held at Warwick Public Library at 600 Sandy Lane on Oct. 4, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Having a significant history in the market makes Conte a good candidate for the event. But with her market made up mostly of department stores, catalog companies and specialty stores, she’s at a crossroads.
“I feel like I’ve hit a sort of plateau. We’re shipping goods in and out, and I have a three-year plan to get to the next level,” said Conte, who has been keeping her business growing by using temporary and contracted help.
“I have to hire more designers, more people to support shipment. I want to find out my options for getting more capital,” said Conte. “I want to create jobs in Rhode Island.”
The SBA’s Hayward hopes that businesses like Conte’s find a match at the event.
“Some of our workshops are about how to start a business. This is different. It’s about having a vision and possible access to capital to make that vision become reality,” said Hayward.
“With the economy and lending being down a bit, it’s no secret that sitting down with lenders is an important opportunity,” said Hayward. “If somebody meets with a bank, makes a deal and opens a new business or creates a few new jobs, that’s a good result.” •

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