Welcome to New Equity Business. Finding money for your business just got easier

New Equity Business is the small business source for financing, news, and information. We support a thriving community of entrepreneurs, real estate developers, investors, and others interested in small business finance. On our site, you can:

• FIND different types of funding using our proprietary search and locator tool. Already in business or thinking about making a new investment in real estate? Our search engine and locator tool helps you identify financing available and appropriate for your needs.
• CONNECT to NEB Navigators - financing specialists who assist business owners in assessing their financial readiness, developing relationships with funding sources, and applying for funding
• LEARN about other businesses, just like yours. Find out how other businesses and investors are creatively finding new equity for their businesses.
• LEARN more Information on the ""nuts and bolts"" about how to secure funding for your business, real estate, and investments.
• LEARN from experts in the field of small business and real estate finance - from the public and private sector, hear it here first!

Our mission is to improve access to financing for small businesses, real estate developers, and investors in order to accelerate business growth, create jobs, and expand economic activity in cities throughout the country. Whether it is public money such as grants and bonds, or private capital such as angel investment and bank loans, we will provide you with the news and information you need for new investments, start-up, growth, relocation, restructuring, and the achievement of your investment goals. Please contact our editors or writers here with any story ideas and suggestions for improving New Equity Business. We would love to hear from you.

Check out our New Equity Daily posts featuring:

New Equity 101

Provides an introduction or a refresher for those small businesses and investors seeking to gain a better understanding of the types of financing available, the costs and benefits, the type of sources, and guidelines on ""how to"" access these funds.

New Equity Hot Tips

Highlights the latest and greatest small business trends and capital raising strategies while debunking myths, filling in gaps, and offering actionable recommendations for businesses seeking to get ahead of the curve.

New Equity in Action Profiles

Inspirational stories that chronicle examples of ""real world"" businesses and investors working to apply and secure traditional and non-traditional financing.

New Equity Policy Briefs

We offer practical proposals and solutions for local and federal legislators about regulation and incentives that effectively stimulate and/or stifle small business growth.

"Expert" Guest Blogger News

Insights and commentary from financial institutions, policy makers, specialists, consultants, community leaders, and more about what's what, who's who, and how to get the dollars you need.

If you would like to contact New Equity Business with suggestions, comments, corrections, financing information, or announcements, please contact us at info@newequitybusiness.com.

As CEO of  O-H Community Partners, Chinwe has advised financial institutions, the federal government, states, cities, communities, socially responsible investors, real estate investors, and business assistance organizations nationally from Oakland, California and Green Bay, Wisconsin to Queens, New York and Washington, DC on how to finance and get deals done. With $100 million in new investment activity, O-H Community Partners has launched New Equity Daily to help more entrepreneurs and real estate investors throughout the United States find their way, grow their businesses, and achieve their dreams using alternative financing—the “New Equity” of the 21st century.

Ms. Onyeagoro is the main blogger for New Equity Daily and her posts will appear on a regular basis.

Ms. Jones is a Co-Founder of New Equity Business. She is a lawyer by training and has specialized in providing diversity/inclusion strategy consulting to leaders of law firms, corporations, government and not for profit organizations. She was formerly the President of Jones Diversity Group LLC. Ms. Jones has also served recently as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice-President for the Chicago Urban League, a community based organization focused on economic development within the African American community. Ms. Jones is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College with a degree in Economics.

Mr. Begich brings over a decade of business and information technology management to the team. His broad set of work experience includes responsibilities in information technology management, marketing, finance, and general management. Importantly, Nick has spent many years managing global teams and clients across numerous time zones and diverse cultures. As such, he is responsible for management of technical operational activities and resources. Prior to joining New Equity Business, Mr. Begich was a global technology manager with Ford Motor Company and was responsible for managing various programs to delivery ranging in scope from $10MM to $200MM. He holds an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with Concentrations in Information Technology and Operations.

Over the last 10 years, Hadassah has worked with startups, growth stage firms, and nonprofits in business planning, forecasting, and capital raising. Prior to joining New Equity Business, she was President of Sitar Capital Group, where she helped to build profitable companies in a range of industries and raised more than $22 million dollars in financing for small businesses.  She has worked for the Women’s Self-Employment Project (WSEP) as a loan fund portfolio manager and for Seaway National Bank in the commercial lending group. Prior to WSEP, Hadassah served as the Chief Financial Officer to Chatham Calumet Paint and Wallpaper, the nation’s largest minority owned paint distribution company. Hadassah is a passionate advocate for women-owned business, micro-business, and youth entrepreneurship.  She holds a BS from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Read her posts about current issues that face small businesses.

T. Shawn Taylor is a professional writer and media consultant. Taylor began her career as an editor and later switched to writing, first as a cops and courts reporter and later a business features and labor writer. She began her career at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and then went on to work for other large dailies – the Detroit Free Press, the Kansas City Star and the Chicago Tribune. Taylor penned a labor and careers column for the Tribune and appeared as a guest expert on CLTV, WGN and radio stations WVON and WBBM in Chicago. She founded Treetop Consulting in 2006, applying 25 years of experience as a journalist and editor to writing, research projects, communications, and media and marketing. Taylor’s articles and commentaries have appeared in Essence, Edutopia, Sky, Business 2.0 and Consumer Reports magazines; on Afro-netizen and The Root.com on the Web; and on “NextTV: Change You Can See,” the Chicago Urban League’s Emmy-award winning reality television program on FOX Chicago.

Mr. Byam Alexander is the Principal Consultant for Synergyforce Solutions Group, Inc., a financial solutions consulting firm founded in 2005 to assist emerging businesses in the Midwest and East Coast regions access and maximize various government incentives. Since its founding, the company has secured close to $1M in economic development initiatives such as tax credits, training grants, and capital improvement funds at various levels of government in IL, IN, NJ, and MA. The return on investment (ROI) to those businesses has generated new revenue or reduced operational costs in excess of $7M.

“Byam is very talented as a consultant and an advisor. His knowledge base is expansive and his dedication to research, capacity building and resource procurement sets him apart in his field. Byam is extremely results oriented and believes in coaching his clients as he completes his assigned mission.” – Carlos Nelson, Executive Director

Mr. Alexander is a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago and has over 15 years of professional experience across a broad cross-section of industries including: the non-profit sector, environmental remediation, healthcare, telecommunications, environmental engineering, and underground pipeline rehabilitation.

Read about government incentives in posts from Mr. Alexander in our blogger posts.

G. Lamont Blackstone is the principal of G. L. Blackstone & Associates LLC, a commercial real estate consulting firm servicing public sector and non-profit entities and developers in urban markets. He is also one of the founders of DLC UrbanCore LLC, a strategic alliance with DLC Management Corp that is targeting retail development and redevelopment opportunities through public-private partnerships and other strategies. Lamont was formerly Chief Investment Officer of The Retail Initiative, Inc. (“TRI”),  the first national commercial real estate equity fund to focus on inner-city retail development. Mr. Blackstone has had multiple roles with the International Council of Shopping Centers (“ICSC”)—the trade association for the worldwide retail real estate industry—and as the Dean of the School of Economic Development at ICSC’s University of Shopping Centers. Lamont was also a contributor to ICSC’s publications, Retail as a Catalyst for Economic Development and Developing Successful Retail in Underserved Urban Markets.

Read retail-based posts from Mr. Blackstone in our blogger posts.

Virginia Pace is the President and oversees consulting projects at the Lighten Gale Group (LGG). Her specialties include deals that are technically difficult, such as tax-exempt bonds, tax increment financing, and public housing funds. Ms. Pace has worked in the field of affordable housing since 1993. Prior to establishing LGG in 1999, Ms. Pace was the Vice President of Development at Holsten Development. Prior to Holsten Development, Ms. Pace was the Single Family Home Administrator for Affordable Housing for Nashville (AHN) where she administered the home counseling program and sold AHN-owned affordable homes to qualified purchasers. Ms. Pace is currently on National City’s Chicago CDC Advisory Council, is a licensed Illinois real estate broker, and is an active member of the Illinois Housing Council.

Read about housing finance in posts from Ms. Pace in our blogger posts.

Courtney Pogue is a Director at The Waterworks Group where he assists real estate developers and investors in securing public financing to fund development projects. Previously, he worked with ERS Enterprises as a financial consultant. At ERS, he raised more millions of dollars in financing for commercial and residential development projects in Chicago, which have created more than 1,000,000 sq. ft. of development, utilizing Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Tax Increment Financing, New Market Tax Credits, and other public financing sources. Courtney has broad experience in community, corporate, and investment banking acquired during his tenures with the City of Chicago, First Chicago Bank, and Credit Suisse First Boston. Courtney is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Illinois and is affiliated with the following organizations: Urban Land Institute, Lambda Alpha International, National Association of Realtors, International Council of Shopping Centers, Real Estate Investment Association, Institute of Real Estate Management, Illinois Tax Increment Finance Association, Commercial Institute of Real Estate Investment.

Read about tax incentives for investors and small businesses in posts from Mr. Pogue in our blogger posts.

Marquis Parker is a business strategist, advisor, mentor, and award-winning blogger on topics of business, entrepreneurship, careers, and education.  Currently, he is a Vice President of Global Strategy for a division of Aon Corporation.  Mr. Parker is also the President of Marquis Parker Enterprises, LLC, the holding company for a collection of businesses in the areas of professional services, personal and professional advisory, media, and information products.   Previously, he has worked as a Management Consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he advised clients in a variety of sectors.  He later joined Waterstone Group Holdings, a Chicago-based strategic advisory and capital investment holding company.  Mr. Parker also maintains advisory roles with a number of small businesses, non-profits and other organizations.  He holds an A.B. in Computer Science from Princeton University, an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, an M.A. in Education from Stanford University, and a M.S. in Management of Information Technology from the University of Virginia.

Read about strategies that work for small businesses from Mr. Parker in our blogger posts.  

Kelsey Jones is a founding partner at The Social Robot, a boutique copywriting, search, and social media marketing agency. Kelsey has worked for Yelp and a wide variety of small businesses in several different industries, ranging from e-commerce to information portals. She was named one of the Top 100 Marketers of the Year in 2009 by Invesp and has been quoted by HubSpot in several of their e-books about search and social media. Based out of the Kansas City area, Kelsey enjoys traveling, reading, and working with clients.

Read about social media strategies that work for small businesses from Ms. Jones in our blogger posts. 

Michael Gurau is founder and president of Clear Innovation Partners, a venture capital fund based in New England. With 27 years of business expertise, Michael has a background that includes venture capital and start-up experience. While most of Michael’s venture capital career was spent with Advent International, most recently he has served as president of CEI Community Ventures, where he managed a $10 million fund.  His start-up experience includes product management, marketing and strategy with Silknet Software (now Kana Communications) and in a general manager role with Living Balance, a direct mail and e-commerce start-up.  Michael earned a BS in Finance from Babson College and his MBA from the University of Virginia's Darden School. He also serves on various boards including the Tayloe Murphy Center at Darden, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund's Flexible Capital Fund, Mainebiz Momentum, and the Entrepreneurs Foundation of New Hampshire, among others. Reach Michael at mgurau@clearinnovationpartners.com.

Read about venture capital from Mr. Gurau in our blogger posts.