New Company to Aid Minority Business Launched
Diocesan Press Service. June 8, 1972 [72078]
NEW YORK, N.Y. (DPS) -- The launching of a new Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Company (MESBIC) took place in a formal "closing" here today.
Representatives of the American Indian Investment Opportunities, Inc. (AIIO), which is the first American Indian-owned and -controlled MESBIC to be licensed by the U.S. Government's Small Business Administration, signed an agreement with four groups which have invested in the company.
The MESBIC program is designed to help close the gap in business ownership between minority individuals and other Americans by providing needed venture capital and management help. MESBIC 's are owned by the private sector and licensed by the U.S. Government.
Capital investments in AIIO now total $250,000. A IIO is seeking to double that amount.
When a MESBIC has raised $1 million or more from the private sector, the U.S. Government will provide matching funds on a three for one basis. The U.S. will match two for one when private capital exceeds $150,000. A proposed change in the regulations would provide matching funds on a three for one basis when private capital exceeds $500,000.
In AIIO the Ford Foundation has invested $150,000 for base capital, and in addition has made a grant of $63,483 for the administration of the program for the first year.
The Ghetto Loan and Investment Committee (GLIC) of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church has purchased cumulative preferred stock in the amount of $50,000.
Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity (O IO), Norman, Okla., and Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIIO), Washington, D. C., expect to invest $25, 000 each in common stock, which controls AIIO.
In addition to providing financing to minority businesses, AIIO will provide management advice and technical assistance of all kinds to newly former companies including such areas as finance, accounting, business planning, marketing, legal and employee relations. Initial efforts will be concentrated in the Southwestern United States. Subsequently, the program will be expanded to other parts of the country.
AIIO has been chartered in the state of Oklahoma with headquarters in Norman, Okla., but can operate outside Oklahoma. The entire voting power of the corporation is vested in the common shares with each share entitled to one vote. A IO and O IO own all the voting stock in equal amounts. AIIO will be governed by its own board of directors and will be responsible for management.
Representatives of the various parties involved in the program who were present at the closing were: Ms. Siobhan Nicolau, Ford Foundation; Charles F. Bound and Dr. Lindley M. Franklin, Jr., members of GLIC of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church; Ms. LaDonna Harris, wife of Senator Fred Harris of Oklahoma, president of A IO and honorary president of O 10; Ms. Iola Hayden, executive director, and William Hayden, of A IO; James Wahpepah, president of O IO; and attorneys William A. Boylan, representing GLIC, and Robert H. Werbel, representing AIIO.