North Bay Woman

F A L L 2 0 1 4 | NORTH BAY WOMAN 37 are women seeking to position their business- es for sustainable growth. Participants take advantage of the extensive list of business education programs available, in addition to being matched with consultants for guidance. Though she is challenged to make time for classes, Arthur has taken a Quickbooks class and plans to attend a business plan develop- ment class to advance her goals. Karell has helped clients get Small Business Administration loans and micro-loans through programs like EARN for low-income women with a plan and a need for seed money. Some of her clients have been supportive by conducting successful crowd-funding campaigns through Kickstarter and other social media options. Strategic development Oshalla Diana Marcus, another client of Renaissance Marin, has made her living in the field of wellness for more than 30 years, teaching yoga to adults and mindfulness to young people. Motivation for her Pure Earth Beauty brand of hair, skin and nutritional products is a natural extension of her wellness focus and desire to share her secrets. Marcus sees herself as an educator and expert in the field of natural beauty from the inside out. When starting her wellness product line, she embarked on a huge business learning curve that included importing ingredients, establishing a manu- facturing clean room, dealing with customs, trademarks, packaging and marketing. After a costly and unproductive trade show expe- rience took a giant bite out of her available funds, Marcus obtained a micro-loan through Renaissance Marin's network. She attended a 14-week course as a condition of the loan. Marcus was selected along with other businesses to attend an MBA boot camp at Dominican University to get a better han- dle on business strategy. The Good Earth, Marin County's long-standing natural foods store, sells Pure Earth Beauty products. The resources she has accessed have sharpened her business acumen and identified her best target markets to help her move forward. New funding start-up Sausalito-based Breakaway Funding is both a start-up and partly woman-owned business. Managing Partner Kim Kaselionis worked in San Francisco's community banking circles developing relationships, products and services. She became an expert at work- ing within the constraints of traditional lending regulations to create home lending programs that were affordable to more borrowers and which made properties more marketable for sellers. When her employer, Circle Bank, closed in 2012, Kaselionis attended a conference on equity funding which became the genesis for the Breakaway funding model. Knowing the exposure to risks faced by traditional banks that lend to small and mid- sized businesses, she saw an opportunity for new and expanding business owners to draw on social capital for a portion of their funding, thereby "putting some skin in the game". When the business owner is willing to accept part of the risk, lenders are inclined to look more closely at them as potential customers. With a background in community > Continue to FUNDING on page 53 When the business owner is willing to accept part of the risk, lenders are...to look more closely at them as potential customers." – Kim Kaselionis of Breakaway Funding

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