EDB, ADSEF join to push community biz development
From left: ADSEF Administrator Marta Elsa Fernández, EDB President Joey Cancel-Planas and Family Department Secretary Idalia Colón.
As part of an initiative to promote the development of small businesses among low-income families, the Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico and the Family Department’s Socio-Economic Development Administration, known as ADSEF, have joined forces help those participating in the islandwide Economic and Social Rehabilitation program.
“The EDB has the mission of providing financial products to small and mid-sized entrepreneurs. So we are in a continuous search for alternatives that provide benefits to our entrepreneurs and to those who have the desire to become entrepreneurs. With this partnership, we seek to support those sectors that, for reasons beyond their control, have no access to traditional financing to set up or expand their businesses,” said EDB President Joey Cancel-Planas.
ADSEF oversees the Economic and Social Rehabilitation program, whose goal is to fight extreme poverty in Puerto Rico by development social intervention strategies that allow families living in such conditions to achieve financial self-sufficiency.
Through the partnership, ADSEF will have $550,366 in funds available from the Economic and Social Rehabilitation program, which feeds from the Tax Incentives Law. The money will be deposited at the EDB so it can offer financing tools, Family Department Secretary Idalia Colón.
The agencies will work together on a referral plan through which ADSEF will recommend participants, who will also receive education, including how to put together a business plan. Once a case is referred, the EDB will have 60 days to make its decision. The bank will grant up to $15,000 in planning, although ADSEF can recommend a greater amount, up to $25,000.
