Business tycoon, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, will allocate $100 million in federal loans via his insurance company, EquiTrust, to businesses owned by women and people of color as part of the governmental Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
According to Black Enterprise (BE), Johnson was inspired to participate in the PPP after reading about Black-owned small businesses being unfairly passed over for PPP funds and several major organizations such as the Los Angeles Lakers returning their PPP funds to the federal government.
“We knew why the money was gone and couldn’t trickle down to small businesses, especially small minority businesses, because they didn’t have those great relationships with the banks. So this was easy for us to understand,” Johnson told the Wall Street Journal.
Johnson is the owner of the nation’s largest minority-owned insurance company, according to BE. The insurance company will collaborate with the Latino-owned company, MBE Capital Partners, in order to allocate funds. MBE has the capability to process up to 5,000 loans per day via online technology.
Rafael Martinez — CEO of MBE — was motivated to enter into a partnership with Johnson after receiving complaints from clients who were shut out of gaining PPP funds that instead went to larger organizations.
Click here to apply for loans from EquiTrust and MBE Capital.
