Fall, 2024

Dear Friends,

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! At Accompany Capital we've had a lot of news to be grateful for this fall.

We are incredibly pleased to announce that Richard Reynoso has joined Accompany Capital as our Chief Lending Officer!

We are also excited to announce that we are partnering with Resilient to offer LifeGuard Term Life and AD&D insurance to new loan clients.

Some other very exciting news is that author and philanthropist McKenzie Scott has approved a grant of $5M for Accompany Capital. These funds will enable us make more capital and services available to micro and small businesses.

Support from Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) and an ERP Grant from the US Department of Treasury's CDFI Fund has enabled us to expand our Sustainable Business Program.

And, finally, I am personally thrilled to announce that we have selected our first Leonid Ostrovsky Lending Fellow, Ivan Momin!

We also have some important upcoming webinars, so please scroll down to learn more.

Best regards,

Yanki Tshering

Executive Director

Introducing our new Chief Lending Officer

We are very pleased welcome to the Accompany Capital Team our new Chief Lending Officer Richard Reynoso. Rich is an accomplished finance professional whose previous roles have included Director of Portfolio Management at Primary Care Development Corporation where he oversaw a diverse portfolio of loans, bonds, and tax credit transactions, and Vice President of Portfolio Management at First Citizens Bank where he managed risk for middle and large market healthcare real estate transactions.

Rich is also very active in community service and serves as the Vice Chair for Community Board 11 in the Bronx where he advocates for housing, health, and social services, as well as public safety initiatives.

Accompany Capital to Provide LifeGuard Insurance

Accompany Capital—in partnership with Resilient—is proud to be among the first CDFIs in the country to provide its clients with insurance products that help them protect their families’ finances while they are repaying their loans and for which the cost is completely covered by Accompany Capital. Clients who have a loan of over $10,000 are now eligible to receive $25,000 of LifeGuard Term Life insurance coverage and $25,000 of LifeGuard AD&D (accidental death and dismemberment) coverage.

Click to learn more

Green Lending and Sustainable Business Support Programs

An important priority for Accompany Capital this year is to expand the services of Accompany Capital’s Sustainable Business Program. Thanks to our funders at Opportunity Finance Network, through their Climate Justice Fund, and the Equitable Recovery Program (ERP) grant from the CDFI Fund, we have been able to support businesses like Battery Buyers, Inc., and Clean Slate.

Click to read more

Accompany Capital Receives $5 Million Grant

We are extremely pleased to announce that we have received a $5 million grant from philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving initiative. Scott has long been active in giving to organizations that promote economic equity and justice, including other CDFIs. This generous grant will help Accompany Capital invest in more small business owners, thereby helping them secure better futures for themselves and their communities. It will also allow us to invest more in our new Green Lending and Sustainable Business support programs as well as our program to help taxi drivers who are struggling to refinance the often-crushing debt they incurred purchasing their New York taxi medallions.

Click to read more:

Visiting Clients with Thriving Businesses

We recently enjoyed a morning of site visits, along with c0lleagues from the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, with clients who have recently expanded their businesses, checking in to listen to and learn how best we can support them in a timely and relevant way. Stops included a trip to the Harlem Meer to see the progress of the green roof construction being carried out by client Adaptive Green, then on to The Roasting Room, which was just opened in the South Bronx by clients Sarina Prabasi and Elias Wossenu Gurmu, co-founders of Buunni Coffee, and finally to lunch at client restaurant Khalil Biryani House in the Parkchester section of the Bronx. Special thanks, too, to client (and woman-owned business) DH2 Chauffeured Transportation for getting us seamlessly from business to business!

Lending Fellowship Recipient Announced

We are very pleased to welcome Ivan Momin, the first recipient of our new Leonid Ostrovsky Lending Fellowship, which we created in memory of our late Chief Lending Officer. Ivan is a native New Yorker whose parents are first-generation immigrants from Bangladesh, currently pursuing his Bachelor’s in Finance and Economics at Queens College. The fellowship is an early-career opportunity for candidates with an interest in small business lending to immigrants and refugees to receive on-the-job training in leads management, underwriting small business loans, collections, reporting, and community outreach and marketing.

Click to read more

Upcoming Workshops

Webinar: ADA and Website Accessibility

Wednesday, December 11

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Title III of the American Disability Act mandates that websites, provide equal access to individuals with disabilities. With over 91 million people in the U.S. living with disabilities and a combined disposable income of $500 billion, inaccessible websites risk missing out on a significant market. Additionally, businesses face growing lawsuits, averaging over $25,000 in settlement costs for ADA violations. Compliance is not only mandatory but also a responsible business practice.

Join this webinar to learn:

Why website accessibility matters and whom it impacts.
The types of disabilities impacted, their related challenges, and the assistive technologies they use
Accessibility laws
Learn the definition of Accessibility and Barriers to Accessibility.
Understand the Accessibility Process and Common Accessibility Issues

Presenter(s): Kim Alfonso, CEO of Results One

Webinar: Social Media and Accessibility

Thursday, January 16

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

This workshop on social media accessibility will equip you with the skills and knowledge to make your content as inclusive as possible, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can engage with and benefit from your posts. Despite limitations on many social media platforms, there are proactive steps you can take to enhance accessibility. In this workshop, you will learn tips to make your social media content as compliant as possible so everyone can participate.

In this webinar, we will cover: