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Ackneil M. Muldrow II, CEO of Development Credit Fund Inc., and CFO Alagra D. Weaver pose outside the fund's Charles Street offices. The fund closed in June after 21 years. (Photo by Donna M. Griffin, Special to Baltimoresun.com / June 25, 2004) |
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Age: 66.
Residence: Mount Washington.
Personal: Married, two children. One grandson. Ackneil M. Muldrow II in brief
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Last of two parts.
Development Credit Fund Inc. closed in June after 21 years of providing loans and other assistance to small businesses in the Baltimore region.
Established by the Greater Baltimore Committee in 1983, the DCF was financed with $7.5 million from six area banks. The Maryland General Assembly created a loan guarantee fund for the same amount through the Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority. The DCF was the state's first joint public-private financing entity.
Ackneil M. Muldrow II was named the fund's president and chief executive. He still was running the fund out of its Charles Village offices when it closed on June 30.
Throughout its history, the DCF has provided nearly $40 million in loans, generally spanning five to 10 years for working capital, equipment and machinery. It also managed nearly $5 million in federal funds through various community development programs.
One of the DCF's most successful efforts was the Diversity Retail Entrepreneurial Loan Fund, a $1 million partnership with Nike Inc. and the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development to aid minority entrepreneurs in opening athletic apparel stores in low-income areas.
At its peak, as many as six stores operated in such local communities as East Baltimore, Cherry Hill and Highlandtown.
Muldrow, a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, worked at Commercial Credit Corp. in Baltimore and the Montgomery Ward & Co. before joining the DCF.
In an interview, Muldrow discussed the Nike program and other DCF efforts.
One of the Development Credit Fund's most successful programs was the venture with Nike and the state.
That was really was a coup for us. Really a coup. I don't think anybody else has done it. We were really pleased that we got the attention of a national organization.
Nike had been under some criticism for the lack of stores owned by African-Americans?
With Nike, as with many other companies, it's a distribution process. You don't want your shoes competing with your shoes. Nike could not put its money up to compete against other Nike outlets. That's how they controlled the market. When Nike decided to get into the program with us, we chose to support Nike-type operations.
Why?
Because in the areas where the stores were, there were none [owned by African-Americans] nearby. There was no retail outlet for the Nike products in black communities.
[Kenneth N. Oliver, DCF senior vice president] and I were talking one day, and I said: "Look at all those people buying those Nike products. There's not an African-American or minority on the other side. They need to be selling, not buying."
What attracted the DCF to the program?
We were in the inner city. The customer base was in difficult areas, like Cherry Hill, East Baltimore.
What was it like approaching the company?
When we went out there [Beaverton, Ore.], we had our PowerPoint presentation ready, only to find out that they had done such an investigation on us; they knew all about us before we even got out there. They said, "Let's go right to the presentation." We were shocked.
Development Credit Fund Inc. closed in June after 21 years of providing loans and other assistance to small businesses in the Baltimore region.
Established by the Greater Baltimore Committee in 1983, the DCF was financed with $7.5 million from six area banks. The Maryland General Assembly created a loan guarantee fund for the same amount through the Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority. The DCF was the state's first joint public-private financing entity.
Ackneil M. Muldrow II was named the fund's president and chief executive. He still was running the fund out of its Charles Village offices when it closed on June 30.
Throughout its history, the DCF has provided nearly $40 million in loans, generally spanning five to 10 years for working capital, equipment and machinery. It also managed nearly $5 million in federal funds through various community development programs.
One of the DCF's most successful efforts was the Diversity Retail Entrepreneurial Loan Fund, a $1 million partnership with Nike Inc. and the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development to aid minority entrepreneurs in opening athletic apparel stores in low-income areas.
At its peak, as many as six stores operated in such local communities as East Baltimore, Cherry Hill and Highlandtown.
Muldrow, a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, worked at Commercial Credit Corp. in Baltimore and the Montgomery Ward & Co. before joining the DCF.
In an interview, Muldrow discussed the Nike program and other DCF efforts.
One of the Development Credit Fund's most successful programs was the venture with Nike and the state.
That was really was a coup for us. Really a coup. I don't think anybody else has done it. We were really pleased that we got the attention of a national organization.
Nike had been under some criticism for the lack of stores owned by African-Americans?
With Nike, as with many other companies, it's a distribution process. You don't want your shoes competing with your shoes. Nike could not put its money up to compete against other Nike outlets. That's how they controlled the market. When Nike decided to get into the program with us, we chose to support Nike-type operations.
Why?
Because in the areas where the stores were, there were none [owned by African-Americans] nearby. There was no retail outlet for the Nike products in black communities.
[Kenneth N. Oliver, DCF senior vice president] and I were talking one day, and I said: "Look at all those people buying those Nike products. There's not an African-American or minority on the other side. They need to be selling, not buying."
What attracted the DCF to the program?
We were in the inner city. The customer base was in difficult areas, like Cherry Hill, East Baltimore.
What was it like approaching the company?
When we went out there [Beaverton, Ore.], we had our PowerPoint presentation ready, only to find out that they had done such an investigation on us; they knew all about us before we even got out there. They said, "Let's go right to the presentation." We were shocked.
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