On this episode, Ami Kassar interviews Eric Weaver, Senior Advisor to City First Enterprises, the Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative, Community Capital Advisors, and Accion Opportunity Fund, on assess to capital to the underserved: what's going on and what's changing.

Eric brings over three decades of experience in community economic development and community development finance. After graduating from Harvard University, he began his career as a relief worker in El Salvador, bringing aid to internally displaced refugees during the civil war there in the 1980s. He then worked as a community organizer and project manager at an affordable housing non-profit in Washington, DC, near where he grew up in Bethesda, MD. After moving west to pursue an MBA at Stanford, he ended up staying in California for 30 years.

In 1992, he founded what is now the nation’s leading small and microbusiness lending CDFI—Opportunity Fund (now Accion Opportunity Fund). When Eric stepped down as CEO in 2017, Opportunity Fund had over 100 employees and a small business loan portfolio under management of over $100 million. The company has also been a leader in Individual Development Accounts, Affordable Housing lending, New Markets Tax Credit lending, and advocacy on the issue of curbing irresponsible and predatory small business lending. Last year, Opportunity Fund surpassed $1 billion in cumulative community investment.

He and his family moved back to his home state of Maryland in 2020. He now serves as a Senior Advisor to four organizations: City First Enterprises, the Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative, Community Capital Advisors, and Accion Opportunity Fund.

Recorded 09/28/2021.