Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Small Business Support topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners approve $1.55M amendment to Freedom Equity contract for small‑business navigation platform
Summary
The board approved a $1.55 million amendment to expand Freedom Equity’s Build, Grow, Go platform; the CDFI said a pilot will launch May 27 to onboard 1,000 businesses and connect them to capital and contract opportunities. Commissioner Boyce recorded an abstention.
The Franklin County Board of Commissioners on May 5 approved an amendment to increase its contract with Freedom Equity from $1.5 million to $1.55 million to support expansion of the Build, Grow, Go small‑business platform.
County staff described the platform as a centralized hub to connect entrepreneurs with technical assistance, capital and contracting opportunities. J. Avery Frost, identified in the meeting as Freedom Equity’s president and CEO, said the pilot will use a software called Cypher to provide business readiness assessments, document repositories and connections to funders and procurement opportunities.
Frost told the board the pilot is expected to launch May 27 with a goal of onboarding about 1,000 small businesses and facilitating more than $5,000,000 in capital and contracting opportunities. "We already partnering with... small business development centers, minority business assistance center and the city of Columbus," Frost said, describing collaborations to make the tool widely accessible to entrepreneurs.
The resolution passed with Commissioner Boyce recorded as abstaining; commissioners otherwise voted to adopt Resolution 2 79 26.
