$500 Million Small Business Initiative Formed
by excepted from Bloomberg.com Posted on 11/20/2009
The "10,000 Small Businesses Initiative" will be guided by an advisory council co-chaired by Loyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Buffett and Harvard Business School's Michael Porter. The council will include George Boggs, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges, and Dan Danner, president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business.
The program will contribute $200 million to community colleges, universities and other institutions to provide small- business owners with practical business education. Goldman Sachs will invest $300 million through a combination of lending and philanthropic support to community development financial institutions.
The fund was formed with a $50 million contribution from Goldman Sachs and $80 million from partners at the firm, each of whom has an account and can guide how the money is spent.
In March 2008, the company said it planned to contribute $100 million over five years to provide business education to women in developing nations and elsewhere through an initiative called 10,000 Women. The program was established in 18 countries and has more than 60 partners.
