Deal Highlight

Verbena

It is notoriously hard to break into the restaurant business, let alone succeed in it. Chef Melissa Coriaty has managed to do both with Verbena, a restaurant and catering business located in South Portland, Maine. Offering local ingredients at reasonable prices, Verbena has grown to a total of six employees, with another hire in the works. Support from CEI's Women's Business Center and a $35,000 loan helped Vebena expand at a time when many other restaurants were closing or just managing to survive.

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Recognizing Women Business Leaders

Welcome to September! Our focus on capital for women entrepreneurs dovetails with Mainebiz magazine's annual Women to Watch issue. Two of the five featured business women, Claudia Raessler, owner of Saco River Dyehouse, and Margo Walsh, founder of Maineworks, received initial financing from CEI. Congratulations to Margo, Claudia, and their honoree colleagues. In the news at CEI, Parnassus Investments, an investment management company and a leader in the field of responsible investing, made a $1 million investment in CEI Investment Notes, under the leadership of Managing Director Ellen Golden. With gratitude, Ron Phillips President & CEO

Business counseling and flexible financing

Comprehensive Support for Women-Owned Businesses

Women-owned businesses in Maine added an estimated 274,000 jobs to the economy since 2007, and are growing at a higher rate than men-owned businesses or businesses with combined ownership. Concurrently, CEI's loans and investments to female or co-entrepreneur borrowers have increased steadily in response to and support of the sector (see chart above). CEI's five-year, $128MM Platform for Sustainable Lending and Investing, launched in October 2012, specifically focuses on women as a target demographic--resulting in increased support over the last two and a half years.

Founded in 1985, CEI's Womens Business Center (WBC) provides  business counseling and workshops for women entrepreneurs and business owners at any stage: from conceptualization to start up to expansion. The WBC also brings sector expertise to CEI's lending practices, building our capacity for community economic development.

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Inside CEI

Sarah Guerette

Sarah Guerette, Director and Business Counselor at CEI's Women's Business Center, provides technical assistance to start-ups and existing small businesses in southern Maine, with a focus on women-owned businesses. Originally from Bangor, Sarah has worked with small business owners in Maine, Boston and in Ecuador, where she lived for nearly five years. Read highlights from an interview with Sarah about her commitment to helping small business owners »