Baltimore has the potential to be a city that is truly hospitable to small business growth, with all the economic benefits of jobs and tax revenue such growth would bring. But for new and established small businesses to thrive, the city needs a financing system with capacity to meet their needs.
Capital is certainly not the only ingredient necessary for successful business growth, but it is a critical input. If companies lack access to appropriate types of capital at critical stages of growth, they are likely to never take off and achieve scale, or even worse, to go out of business or leave Baltimore and relocate where financial support is more readily available, depriving the local economy of jobs and economic growth.