ACE Entrepreneur of the Year Melissa Bennett receives her award from Patricia Puckett, ACE Board Chair, and Sandy Headley, ACE VP of Lending.
ACE and Melissa Bennett, 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year, were cited in U.S. Treasury Department CDFI Fund Director Donna J. Gambrell’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on May 25.
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) provide financial products and development services to underserved markets such as low- and moderate-income, women- or minority-owned businesses.
Specifically, Gambrell said, while discussing CDFI impact on the economy and job creation: “Another organization, Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE), which is a certified CDFI as well as an SBA Microloan Intermediary and USDA Intermediary Relender, has done excellent work encouraging the growth of small business ventures in the rural Southeast. For example, an ACE microloan to Melissa Bennett allowed her to expand her cosmetics store to a second retail location in Georgia and to hire more help. The Dazzle Cosmetic Company now has eight employees in a rural area with a high poverty rate.”
Dazzle Cosmetic Company is located in East Ellijay and Blue Ridge, GA.