CSBDF Torch Newsletter

Partner and Stakeholder Newsletter | Volume 9 | December, 2025

IGNITING COMMUNITIES, ACTIVATING CHANGE: CSBDF'S 2024-2025 ANNUAL REPORT

At Carolina Small Business Development Fund, we are incredibly proud of the work we do throughout the year to light the way for North Carolina's small businesses. It is these passionate, innovate, and trailblazing small businesses that move our communities forward, and it is our privilege at CSBDF to get to work with them.

We invite you to read our 2024-25 Annual Report -- Igniting Communities, Activating Change -- to learn more about the work we do to support our entrepreneurial ecosystem, and to learn more about how some of the small businesses we have helped have been catalysts for positive change within their communities.

Read our 2024-25 Annual Report here!

CSBDF IN ACTION

CSBDF President and CEO Kevin Dick recently spoke alongside North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall at the Fayetteville Greater Business Journal's Power Breakfast series!

The event featured an impactful conversation on leadership, entrepreneurship, and opportunities for small business owners in North Carolina.

Western Women's Business Center Director Zuri Anuel recently had the opportunity to participate in her first meeting of Governor Josh Stein's Latino Advisory Council!

Thank you, Zuri, for representing our organization with this great opportunity and making a difference for small businesses in NC.

In November, members of the CSBDF team represented the organization well at the 2025 Pathway to Prosperity Conference in Cary.

We are proud of all our team members for consistently representing CSBDF and bringing valuable information to entrepreneurs at events across North Carolina!

WESTERN WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTER HOLIDAY POP-UP SHOP

STAFF MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

At CSBDF, we have a hard-working staff working to serve North Carolina's small business owners through our three-pillar approach of providing capital, technical assistance, and small business policy research. Each newsletter, we will spotlight a few of our dedicated staff members:

Gail Strickland

Loan Servicer

Arafa Saeed

Salesforce Administrator

Panisara Bergenbush

Accounting Manager

Wannetta Pray-Black

Staff Accountant

CLIENT IMPACT

Meet Jimmy Evans, the owner of Headquarters Barbershop in Raleigh. At Headquarters, Jimmy is delivering personal, professional barber services to his clients while also promoting mental health advocacy in his community through The Barbershop Therapy Foundation.

"The team at CSBDF went the extra 10 miles to help me get a loan. I was so greatly appreciative," says Evans. "The loan helped me to expand my business...We're giving the shop a complete makeover and turning it into five individual suites to really emphasize that personal approach to serving our clients."

Read the full story here!