LONG BEACH – A newly formed department of Los Angeles County government — the Department of Economic Opportunity – and Sunstone Management, Inc., joined forces last week to host the Los Angeles Region Small Business Summit in Long Beach.
The concept behind the summit is to bring small business owners into contact with public and private entities capable of providing support to help them survive and grow. An expo showcased resources available through groups ranging from Wells Fargo Bank to the U.S. Small Business Administration, and a series of panels addressed specific concerns such as access to capital and employee recruitment.
The Long Beach event was one of a series being put on by the county Department of Economic Opportunity to promote its new Economic Mobility Initiative. Victor Parker, the Deputy Associate Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration was on hand to give opening remarks. Wells Fargo joined Sunstone as a sponsor and presented a $3,000 check to Sal’s Gumbo Shack as the small business awardee.
Sunstone Management CEO John Keisler, joined by Chiling Tong, President and CEO, National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship, talked about business acceleration through the Capital Readiness Program and the State Small Business Credit Initiative, one of several government sources of capital or loan guarantees highlighted through the summit.
Later in the day, Keisler moderated a panel about strengthening a small business’s financial health with resources ranging from the Regional Small Business Development Center and the county Department of Economic Opportunity to the district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Also on that panel was Dr. Yi Chao, founder and CEO of Seatrec, who offered insight about partnering with government agencies to provide support while getting a new business up and running.
Keisler summed up the panel, and the summit, by saying “Most small business owners might feel like the government is the enemy. It collects taxes and requires permits. But what I hope what you’ve seen today is that the government can be your greatest ally. You just have to know how and where to make the connections.”
For more information about LA County’s Economic Development Initiative, go to lacountyemi.com. For the regional Small Business Development Center, it is longbeachsbdc.org.
More About Sunstone Management
Sunstone Management is a diversified private capital sponsor firm headquartered in Southern California. Identified by Financial Times as one of America’s Fastest Growing Companies three years in a row. In the latest Pitchbook rankings, Sunstone Management was #15 in the third quarter of 2023 nationally, and #18 in the fourth quarter.1
- Rankings from Pitchbook Venture Monitor, Q3 and Q4.
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Jennifer Huang
Sunstone Management
(562) 732-0617
Jennifer.huang@sunstoneinvestment.com