How credit unions help SMBs get creative to navigate market uncertainty

Small businesses are turning toward their financial service providers now more than ever, not only for access to working capital and key products to run their business, but also for advisory services and guidance on how to navigate today’s volatile market.

It’s a difficult moment for the small business community, too, considering the pains of forced store closures, patronate limitations and other pandemic-related factors affecting how a business can operate — or whether it can stay open at all.

Kelli Ellsworth-Etchison of Michigan-based credit union LAFCU says the credit union business model can offer small business owners an advantage over services provided by larger financial institutions. Speaking with PYMNTS, Ellsworth-Etchison offered insight into some of the most strenuous challenges facing both small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and their financial services providers today, and why getting creative is the key to survival.

Getting Creative

Small businesses continue to face a brutal market, with Ellsworth-Etchison pointing to limits on capacity and other operating restrictions as some of the toughest hurdles to overcome today. While the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was intended to help small businesses by retaining staff, Ellsworth-Etchison said it often had an adverse impact.

 

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