Trustee: Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL)

Newark, NJ


Overview

Why are you interested in becoming a Trustee?
The mission of our organization is to support economic development through entrepreneurship especially focusing on segments that are traditionally under-capitalized. By helping these entrepreneurs succeed, our goal is to help them create jobs for themselves and others, and in the process build stronger communities. By serving as a Trustee, we would be better able to support our objective of connecting hard-working, promising entrepreneurs with the resources required to start, grow and sustain a successful business enterprise.
What is the mission of your organization?
The Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that supports inner city economic development through entrepreneurship. Our mission is to stimulate economic development in inner city communities by accelerating the growth of the small business sector – the business segment that has the greatest potential to positively impact job creation and wealth building. We have a particular outreach effort targeting women, minority, veteran and low-income business owners who often lack sufficient access to business capital. While IFEL does not provide direct funding to companies, it helps mitigate access to capital as a barrier to success by providing capable entrepreneurs with essential resources key to short-term survivability and long-term growth. Our ultimate goal is to create entrepreneurial leaders who own companies capable of contributing to the regional economy through the creation of jobs and entrepreneurial wealth.

Borrower Due Diligence

How will you decide who to endorse as a borrower? What due diligence will you conduct?
Participation in one of our training programs and in ongoing mentoring will be a prerequisite. The nature of our mentoring support is built on developing an intimate knowledge of our clients and their business. We focus not just on telling our clients what to do, but we also roll up our sleeves and provide support, guidance and often assistance in getting things done. We will endorse borrowers who have a well articulated plan for how they will utilize the funds to move their business to the next level, who have demonstrated their ability to achieve milestones in the absence of external funding, who follow through with what they say they will do, who are willing to listen to advice and who provide a plan for repayment. Through the ongoing relationship, we will continue to monitor activity against the business plan and repayment schedule to identify potential problems before they become insurmountable.

About Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL)


Location: Newark,
Total loans: $131,025


All Loans for this Trustee