CAPITAL TIMES - MARCH 1999

How Business Giant GE Capital Helps Small Businesses Succeed

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 5.5 million businesses – from the approximately 6.6 million employers in the U.S. – employ fewer than 100 employees. And from 1988-1992, the latest available statistics, the number of minority-owned small businesses in the U.S. grew at a 62 percent rate, indicating the growing diversity of the small business sector.

"Small businesses in the
U.S. deploy more than half
of the private workforce.
Going forward, two thirds
of all job growth will be
small-business related."

-Robert Ballou

To support them, and to establish a presence in this vast financing market, the GE Capital Small Business College was launched in 1994, providing a structured networking and educational platform for existing small businesses, particularly those that are minority owned and inner-city based.

“Small businesses in the U.S. deploy more than half of the private workforce. Going forward, two thirds of all job growth will be small business related,” said Robert Ballou, president of GE Capital small business finance (SBF), which oversees the college. “Since 1995, when GE Capital purchased SBF, the business has grown by 600 percent. This growth has been fueled by a tremendously large and diverse small business market.”

The college, with more than 200 graduates, provides practical instruction in key management areas.

Experts from GE Capital teach in many of the classes. In fact, about 25 employees are involved in each session. The college also includes resources from GE Capital’s central training organization, the Center for Learning and Organizational Excellence (CLOE).

According to Martha Kramer, the college’s director, there are two important reasons for offering the program. “First,” she says, “it’s the right thing to do, to help small businesses in economically disadvantaged communities. It’s also a smart business move. The small business sector is growing and is underserved. The college gives us access to businesses that may need our products and services.”

In the classroom at GE Capital’s Small Business College.
Session facilitators facing camera from left to right:
Jane Decolvenaere, human resouces manager for Financial
Guaranty Insurance Company, and Laura Belmonte, program
coordinator at CLOE. Students with backs to camera left to right
are: Skip Wright, Marilyn Ababio, and Amelia Rocto-James.

Programs have been held in New York, Philadelphia, Newark and Stamford. In 1999, plans are underway to launch the College in St. Louis.

More than 95 percent of participants in a recent survey said the college improved their business abilities and was a good value. About 70 percent said their sales increased after taking the course.

One 1996 graduate, the owner of a business relocation and moving service in Brooklyn, said the college was one of the best programs he had been in. And in 1998, when he wanted to buy a larger warehouse, he turned to GE Capital for his financing needs.