ACCION Chicago
ACCION Chicago was one of five organizations selected to be part of FIELD’s Learning Group on Scale. The Learning Group will assist participating organizations in advancing their progress toward scale by learning from the experiences of current Scale Academy members, pursuing a customized agenda that addresses their specific issues and challenges, and participating in collective initiatives designed to advance the field’s pursuit of scale.
The Learning Group first met in September 2009 and will continue through 2010.
Scale-up Strategy:
ACCION Chicago's strategy for pursuing scale centers on three main components: investing in human resources, pursuing a diversified funding base, and implementing strategic geographic expansion.
ACCION Chicago is making significant increases in loan volume. To meet the market demand for microloans in the Chicago area, ACCION seeks to hire three additional Loan Officers, significantly increasing lending staff compared with the current level of four full-time Loan Officers.
ACCION Chicago is actively moving beyond its traditional bank funding structure. ACCION seeks to receive client referrals from banks that are unable to offer business loans to clients operating the smallest businesses.
Through partnerships with community based organizations, ACCION Chicago is expanding and deepening its impact in surrounding counties and with new audiences. ACCION's model for expansion assumes that expansion will best improve scale when pursued in partnership with relevant community organizations.
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Background:
Founded in 1994, ACCION Chicago provides business credit and technical assistance to low- to moderate-income microentrepreneurs in the Chicago-area small business community.
ACCION Chicago has streamlined many of its processes in an effort to increase efficiency and increase scale. Underwriting is outsourced to ACCION Texas, loan servicing has been outsourced to MB Financial Bank, and an on-line application system offers pre-approval capabilities.
Core Microenterprise Services: |
- Microenterprise loans up to $25,000 and credit-builder loans between $200 and $2,500
- Technical assistance to accompany loan products.
Highlights: |
- Pairs each microloan with one-on-one technical assistance tailored to a client's individual business needs.
- Outsourcing of underwriting and loan servicing to increase efficiency and reduce cost.
- Begin using on-line application system with pre-approval capabilities.
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Current Scale:
FY2007: 113 loans disbursed
FY2008: 120 loans disbursed
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Scale Projections:
FY2009: 116 loans disbursed
FY2010: 175 loans disbursed |
Learning Questions:
How will creating partnerships and training relevant community organizations help improve scale?
What measures, including portfolio management procedures and underwriting considerations, should be taken to ensure that growth is sustainable over the long term?
What are best practices in marketing to efficiently reach a large number of quality leads?
