Success Stories

For more than thirty years, True Access Capital (TAC) has been empowering small business owners and entrepreneurs in Delaware and Pennsylvania, providing them with startup capital. Since opening its doors in 1991, TAC has provided nearly $50 million in funding to more than 1,400 organizations, allowing them to, in turn, open for business as well.

In 2007, Lowcountry Local First (LLF) opened its doors in Charleston, South Carolina. The founders of this non-profit organization wanted to advance economic prosperity and local ownership through innovative and inclusive initiatives—exactly the kind of initiative that would benefit from EDA’s investment.

Since 1943, the State of Maine was home to the Brunswick Naval Air Station, a training facility for pilots heading off to Europe during World War 2. They operated under the motto: “Built for Business.”  Today, that slogan has taken on a new meaning.

“I was just a humble chocolate maker with a dream.” Daniel Herskovic, a gourmet chef who worked at top restaurants in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago, started his luxury chocolate company, Mayana Chocolate, in his apartment and eventually moved to a small table in the corner of a local cheesecake bakery on Chicago’s North Side.

“Your dream – our mission.” That’s the motto of Community Ventures, a community development financial institution (CDFI) that has been serving Kentucky since 1982. Today, they operate five offices throughout the state and are committed to improving the quality of life for all of its citizens.

When Centrepolis Accelerator launched just over five years ago, it only had capacity to help a couple startups bring their products to market.

James Bradley is a second-generation commercial fisherman from South Carolina. He’s the owner of Bradley’s Commercial Fishing, a family-owned business on St. Helena Island. The company provides shrimp and other seafood items to local restaurants. Fishing has been a proud tradition for the Bradley family, which has been in the seafood business for more than 100 years.

Long hours and double shifts are a familiar routine for many entrepreneurs and Racine, Wisconsin-based aesthetician Tristah Romero-Kelly is no exception. In 2019, she opened her own business, Renew Medical Aesthetics , while continuing in her “day job” as a nurse practitioner at a clinic in Milwaukee.