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Sep 30, 2008 9:13 pm US/Eastern
Finally: A Small Business Happy Ending
Community Development Corp. Steps In And Gives Already Successful Business A Chance To Flourish
BALDWIN, N.Y. (CBS) ―
While many families are worried about their savings, small business owners are afraid of the credit crisis. Many are facing the prospect of closing down all together.
CBS 2 HD talked to one Long Island entrepreneur who nearly ran out of options.
He finally sealed the deal and celebrated at a diner with the CEO and chief lending officer of a loan corporation, but for 35-year-old Corey Pettway, a small business owner in Baldwin, it had been a precarious and frightening roller coaster ride.
"For any small business you need capital to grow it," said Pettway, owner of New York Inkjet. "You go to banks and they say 'no.' What do you do? You have to turn customers down, think about laying off employees."
Pettway, husband and father of three, graduated from City College. He gave up electrical engineering to follow his dream of running his own start-up "recycled ink and toner" business. Within three years he had hired four workers, and secured global government contracts. However, he found himself in desperate need of loans.
"There's nothing like having customers calling you and you have to turn around and say, 'Well, I can't do it. We don't have enough capital,'" Pettway said.
Even though his company was financially sound and doing well, three banks refused to extend credit. Doors closed in Pettway's face. He was hurt by a national credit crisis that has frozen lending.
So he turned to the Community Development Corp. of Long Island, a nonprofit that helps small businesses.
"We do probably 100 loans a year and we have an amazingly sound portfolio, as good as any bank," said Wilbur Klatsky, CEO of Community Development Corp.
Pettway said our government needs to do more to help the little guy – and for good reason.
"I have a message for the federal government: Really look at small businesses. What we do is essential to our economy," he said.
The Community Development Corp. gave Pettway and his small inkjet company, a $100,000 loan.
The CDC reports hearing from thousands of small business owners turned down by banks. Those businesses are in a horrible economic crunch, because they are dependent on a line of credit just to make it through the fiscal year.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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