Ricardo Macedo

As a new member of the South County Economic Development Council, Ricardo Macedo will be looking in 2008 to lend his banking expertise to the agency’s new small business lending program, one that primarily assists small, Hispanic-owned firms.

“There is no mandate to serve the Hispanic community per se, but most of our applicants are of Hispanic descent,” says Macedo, a member of the SCEDC finance committee that reviews applications for loans of $5,000 to $50,000. “Most are the mom and pops who can’t get traditional financing. They are not really bankable deals.”

By structuring the SCEDC program to parallel his industry’s, Macedo expects to make it easier for businesses to make the transition to traditional financing as they grow and succeed. “We are trying to get processes down to the bankers’ way of looking at things,” he says.

Macedo also expects the agency to boost its outreach efforts in 2008. “We plan to walk certain sectors of National City, San Ysidro and Chula Vista and go out to the business community,” says the Security Business Bank executive and Tijuana native. “We will tell them, ‘We are here to lend you money.’ We are going out there and actively searching for these businesses.”