Abbott-LISC Initiative to Support Diverse Businesses in Health

The Abbott-LISC initiative is open to companies nationwide with a focus on diverse-owned small businesses. Diverse-owned include those that are majority owned by people of color (including Black, Latino, Asian and Native American business owners), women, veterans, people with disabilities, people who identify as LGBTQ, and other historically underrepresented groups. A small business must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the initiative:

• Based in the United States, with an annual revenue of $250,000 or more;
• In operation for more than two years, with an ability to deploy capital toward business improvement and growth; and
• Part of the healthcare industry, with a focus on manufacturing diagnostics, nutrition products, medical devices and other healthcare technologies, or offering business-to-business products and services that the healthcare industry can use such as IT, human resources, and construction, among others.

Sole proprietors are not eligible for the program.

This initiative will offer a continuum of capital and services designed to support small businesses of various sizes and levels of experience:

Growth Capital
This capital will target diverse small businesses that do not yet meet eligibility requirements to act as suppliers for large healthcare companies such as Abbott. With Abbott support, LISC will provide interest-free growth capital to help businesses overcome hurdles to expansion, such as investing in management systems to comply with regulatory and environmental requirements. This funding is similar to an equity investment, but without the owner surrendering any control over the business. Businesses only repay LISC if and when they meet certain growth targets.

• Eligible businesses: minimum of $250,000 in annual revenue
• Investments available: $50,000 - $250,000
• Businesses will be asked to submit a business/growth plan that outlines their plans for expansion, job creation in their communities and eligibility for supplier contracts.

Business Loans
These loans will enable diverse small businesses to fulfill major contracts, grow and stay competitive in their respective industries. With joint LISC-Abbott funding, LISC will provide diverse small businesses with flexible, affordable loans that would not typically be available through conventional lenders. This approach expands access to capital by offering flexible terms to reduce barriers to borrowing, like high interest rates or rigid terms for qualification.

• Eligible businesses: minimum of $2 million in annual revenue
• Minimum loan amount: $100,000

Tailored coaching and technical assistance
LISC will provide targeted, customized support to diverse small businesses that are accessing capital through the initiative. This includes 1:1 help with fulfilling investment and loan requirements and identifying and addressing specific business challenges, such as meeting customer and regulatory standards.

Uses
Eligible uses of capital available through the Abbott-LISC initiative include:

• Facilities improvement
• Management systems improvement
• Securing environmental licenses
• Ensuring compliance with supplier guidelines
• Other working capital

The Abbott-LISC initiative is already making an impact. To date, we have invested $12.8 million in 25 small businesses and provided one-on-one coaching to 55 small businesses. Check out impact stories on five of them:

• Meet Donald Thomas of Memphis Electric
• Meet James Briggs of AI Collaborator
• Meet Karim Mohammed from Tranquil Clinical Research
• Meet Artura Taylor of TDG Scientific
• Meet Ibrahim Jackson of Ubiquitous Preferred Services
• Meet Kristin Harper of Driven to Succeed, LLC
• Meet Linda Boasmond from Cedar Concepts