More Than A Lender: Clients Turn To Pathway Lending To Start, Grow And Succeed In Business

Financing plus classroom training, peer cohorts, and 1-on-1 coaching makes Pathway Lending the right place for business owners of all stages, industries and backgrounds

Pathway Lending does more than make loans.

Growing and running a successful business – one that creates wealth and jobs for the surrounding community – takes more than financing; it takes know-how. That’s why we offer our clients educational and financial resources alike and place equal emphasis on delivering both. In 2019, 64 percent of Pathway’s loan clients participated in our educational offerings.

We design our educational programming to prepare our clients to start, grow or strengthen their businesses and to access the capital they need to succeed. These programs help entrepreneurs move along their unique paths to success through a flexible combination of classroom training, peer cohorts, and 1-on-1 mentoring. The variety of programming means there is something for every entrepreneur at Pathway.

Clients who come to Pathway know they want to start or grow a business, but they may not know if they need or are ready for a loan – when they walk through our doors, we can tell our clients they’ve come to the right place.

 

Business Advisory Services

Pathway’s Business Advisory Services (BAS) offers in-depth coaching to small business owners with a focus on serving rural and historically underserved areas and minority, veteran or women-owned businesses.

In 2019, Pathway’s BAS team provided 27.5 average coaching hours per client and served 222 unique clients.

 

Women’s Business Center

For example, Pathway Women’s Business Center offers in-depth programming for emerging to established entrepreneurs, including:

  • Idea Stage: the 7-week Discover Cohort
  • Post-Revenue Start-Ups: the 7-week Embark Cohort
  • Established Businesses: Ignite 360

With Pathway WBC’s flagship program Ignite360, we help participating entrepreneurs compose a mentor “board of directors” to help them address a specific barrier to growth.

In 2019, Pathway WBC helped clients access $1.85 million in capital, graduated 755 cohort participants and saw 49 new businesses open their doors.

Check out the full line-up of Pathway WBC events.

 

Veterans Business Outreach Center

The Veterans Business Outreach Center at Pathway Lending (VBOC) provides educational training and counseling to transitioning and Active Duty service members, veterans, and their immediate family members who  aspire to start or expand their businesses. The VBOC programming includes the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Boots to Business two-day introductory course to business ownership.

The VBOC launched eight new businesses and assisted clients with access to $1.36 million in capital during calendar year 2019. Over 800 clients participated in 46 VBOC workshops and events and 183 counseling sessions, totaling 11,199 combined hours of classroom instruction and counseling.

Your Partner In Success

At Pathway, we believe business education should be sensitive to the unique needs and interests of the entrepreneur and to the ever-changing needs of the business world. That’s why our goal is to make education available to all entrepreneurs with a need or opportunity – whether you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur or have been in business for years. Flexible, adaptive, and meaningful education for entrepreneurs is at the heart of our mission.

Learn more about our WBC and VBOC programs, or view our Client Success Stories Videos to see how education and lending go hand in glove at Pathway Lending.