Latest news with #Dowdell
Forbes
03-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why SME Financing Is Back On The World's Radar
This World Bank and IMF just completed their Annual Spring meetings in Washington, DC. Legions of finance officials from around the world descended upon DC – ostensibly to discuss important issues like job creation, a skilled workforce and fintech's global growth. Unfortunately, tariffs and concern about the overall global economy instead dominated the headlines. The importance of supporting the world's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has once again become apparent. In a period where multinational corporations are concerned about reshoring, tariffs and political nationalism, SMEs will be critical source of job creation, innovation and local economic growth. But they need financing. New models, such as Liquida Capital, and institutional models, such as the International Finance Corporation's SME Finance Forum, are stepping into the void to provide SMEs with access to important resources to start, grow or scale their businesses. And not a moment too soon. Recent data from Pitchbook shows that 71% of venture capital in the Q1 2025 went to artificial intelligence, which, while important, is not the focus of the vast majority of SMEs. In addition, private investors returned to investing in SMEs in the friendly confines of California, Massachusetts and New York, rather than looking at SMEs around the United States and world. IFC SME Finance Forum 2024 in Brazil In the United States, an interesting model is that of Liquida Capital. Its founder, Andre Dowdell, is a serial entrepreneur who bootstrapped various businesses to success. His frustration with the way that America finances its SMEs – through banks with conservative lending policies or venture capital that is limited to certain cities and sectors, led him to start Liquida Capital. The group connects SMEs to many different sources of capital across the country to find the best, and most willing partner. In 2024 alone, Dowdell and Liquida Capital helped SMEs in the United States raise over $50 million in capital. Since its inception, it has helped over 1500 SMEs in America to access capital for launch or growth. Liquida solves several important challenges facing the small business sector in the United States. Recent changes to the Small Business Administration by the Trump Administration have reduced the amount of SBA-backed loans available around the country. Major banks and community banks relied on these guarantees to support new entrepreneurs. And private investors, like venture capitalists, almost never invest in non-technology or non-science-based businesses. But if an SME is willing to look beyond the narrative of VC as the only option, there is still significant amount of capital in the system. Companies that leverage a broader market to identify willing lenders and investors beyond the reach of the SME geographically or by sector. Liquida Capital Logo At the international level, the International Finance Corporation, and the G20 nations, created the SME Finance Forum to address systemic global challenges to the financial system. They are comprised of SME-focused institutions providing and enabling finance and services- banks, non-banks financial institutions, fintech, payment platforms, development institutions, credit guarantee companies, insurers, investment funds, supply chain linked players, banking and SME associations, policy advocates, regulators, academia, consulting houses, knowledge aggregators. SME's everywhere face the same challenges of access to capital, regulatory burdens and difficulty expanding across borders. The SME Finance Forum has created a network of banks around the world to synchronize lending policies, as well as a set of fintech's that are using traditional capital, crypto and blockchain to improve lending. According to the Forum, fintech is now the leading source of capital for SME's worldwide – as measured by the number of SMEs and not by amount of capital. According to Qamar Saleem, CEO of the SME Finance Forum, 'The SME Forum is proud to work with capital providers around the world, particularly emerging fintech, to support businesses of all sizes'. What path will new entrepreneurs follow? At a startup showcase associated with the World Bank Spring meetings, entrepreneurs talked about the never-ending search for capital that is now stretching across banks, family offices, investors and economic development funds. From biotech startups with intellectual property to small businesses in traditional sectors like transportation, construction and consulting, nobody has found a better way than dialing for dollars in a haphazard manner. For those in the United States, platforms like Liquida Capital provide a new channel through which to find capital and build upon pre-existing lending platforms that have been successful for consumers but not SMEs. Globally, the SME Finance Forum seeks to start a similar discussion but to also include new players in fintech and block chain. The success of these efforts may make life much easier for SMEs in the years to come.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Yahoo
Man charged in wild downtown New London shootout
New London — Police have arrested one of the three suspects in a downtown shootout last summer. Tremaine Dowdell, 31, a city man on supervised release from a federal New London-related firearms conviction, was apprehended Thursday by a team of local, state and federal law enforcement officials on Boswell Avenue in Norwich. He was arraigned in New London Superior Court on Thursday and remains held on a $250,000 bond. Dowdell is charged in connection with a June 8, 2024 shootout between three men at the city's municipal parking lot off Golden Street, where onlookers ducked for cover or ran when as many as two dozen shots were fired from three different guns, reports show. The incident occurred at 1:55 a.m. and police in the area responded to the parking lot to find the shooters had fled. Police found 29 shell casings, from 9mm and .22 caliber handguns, in the municipal parking lot, according to an arrest warrant application by Detective Justin Lawrie. Video surveillance from the area of the shooting revealed Dowdell and two other men were hanging out among a crowd in the area of 12 Bank St. The three men later converged at the municipal parking lot, where Tremaine ducks for cover behind a Hyundai Sonata as one man fires shots from a handgun at him and another man nearby. Tremaine and another man return fire, police said. 'Several citizens in the parking lot in the crossfire began to run away and lay down behind cars,' the police report states. Police said video shows Dowdell calmly walk away from the scene and toss what appears to be handgun on the ground. Police later impounded a rented Hyundai Sonata, which was in the parking lot at the time of the shooting and peppered with bullet holes. Police spoke to the driver, 35-year-old Cabernet Queenan. Queenan initially claimed to be an innocent bystander who was 'at the wrong place at the wrong time,' police reports show. Police said surveillance video, however, shows Queenan, while giving a statement to police, appears to sit directly on top of where one of the guns was tossed. Based on video footage, police said 'it appears that Queenan discreetly removed the suspected firearm from the crime scene.' Queenan denied taking any firearms or helping the suspects get away but a search of her phone revealed Snapchat conversations between her and Dowdell, identified in Snapchat as Dowdell Mekhi, police said. The June 8, 2024 Snapchat conversation begins with Dowdell asking if she is alright. After Queenan tells Dowdell that the police are seizing her car, he responds 'they going to be on me now,' police said. Queenan was arrested Feb. 26 and charged with tampering with evidence in connection with the case. Her case is pending. Dowdell was charged with attempted first-degree assault, illegal discharge of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit. He is additionally charged with a violation of supervised release. Dowdell is due to appear in New London Superior Court on April 28. If he posts bond, a judge has ordered he be monitored by GPS and remain in 24/7 lockdown. Dowdell's last known address is on Union Street. Dowdell was arrested in 2019 in connection with a Sept. 14, 2019 shooting at the H&T Mart on Ocean Avenue. In 2021, he was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release. Federal court records show Dowdell was released from federal prison on Dec. 18, 2023, but arrested again on May 25, 2024, by police in Providence, R.I., for possession of a ghost gun. It is unclear if police have identified or charged the two other men in connection with the shootout. New London police did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
