Jennifer Lopez sports a mask of her own design.
For more than 20 years, while she worked day jobs in nursing and security, Jennifer Lopez held onto her love of fashion.
“Something always told me to follow it,” she said.
Lopez, a New Haven-based single parent with four kids, is now starting an accessories line and fashion education business. She said she was rejected from the first few loans for which she applied. Then, last October, she obtained a microloan from Grameen America. With the $2,000, she purchased supplies and registered her business under the name Jenna Line Customs LLC.
Grameen announced on Friday afternoon that it will expand its presence to Bridgeport and Hartford after a successful nine months of providing microloans in New Haven.
A national organization, Grameen specializes in microloans for women entrepreneurs who are living at or below the federal poverty line of $25,100 for a family of four.
The organization has established lending relationships with 372 New Haven-based women, lending a total of $826,000 so far. Grameen plans to invest $88 million to 7,800 women across the state.
First-time loans can total up to $2,000, and are coupled with financial training and peer support meetings. The loans have six-month terms and are repaid on a weekly basis. Nationally, the loans have seen a 99 percent repayment rate.
Lopez, who has specialized so far in making cloth face masks, is launching her business from her New Haven living room. She hopes to soon start offering fashion classes for teenagers, with lessons on how to stitch garments and transfer designs onto fabric. The Grameen loan has helped her build credit, she said, and “it helps me see other members like me” making their own businesses work.
Andrea Jung: investment in women entrepreneurs goes far.
Gabriela Aragon, another New Havener who received a Grameen loan, is launching a catering business — currently based in her Sheffield Avenue home — specializing in Ecuardorean food. The microloan helped her purchase kitchen supplies and ingredients. She hopes to soon find a physical location for the business, called Delicias de Doña Gaby.
Aragon and Lopez appeared at the New Haven Free Public Library on Friday, joining Grameen America CEO and President Andrea Jung, Mayor Justin Elicker, Gov. Ned Lamont, and state Deputy Commissioner of Economic and Community Development Alexandra Daum to share the details of Grameen’s expansion.
“Access to capital is a game changer for women,” said Jung at Friday’s announcement. “That not only helps them and their businesses, but has impact on children’s education, health…” For every dollar invested in a woman-owned business, Jung said, “that dollar spreads more impactfully to her family and community.”
Lamont: "They've got me."
“I talk a lot about a New Haven where everyone is able to thrive,” said Elicker. He noted that in addition to Grameen’s microfinance efforts, city government plans to invest $10 million of American Rescue Plan funding in small business support and wealth building initiatives.
The Dalio Philanthropies, a fund supported by the personal wealth of hedge fund billionaire Raymond Dalio, is a significant source of funding for Grameen. Gretchen Wagner, the chief operating officer of the organization, said the Dalio family invested in Grameen because they believe in “equal opportunity.”
“In my world, you go through the ‘friends and family route’ ” to fund a new business idea, said Gov. Lamont.
He framed Grameen as a version of that “friends and family” network that wealthy entrepreneurs can access.
“Well, these people don’t have a friends and family route, but they’ve got me.”
From the Rockefellers to Sacklers, this reputation laundering is disgusting and old.