When it comes to funding your entrepreneurial dream, not all financial services are the same. Joanne Pope-Clark would quickly learn this firsthand while on a quest to launch her small business in 2021.
It wasn’t until the director of the Small Business Center at Nash Community College referred Pope-Clarke to Carolina Community Impact that she would experience first-class assistance from within her community.
Pope-Clark is the founder of The Vino Market, a wine and craft beer retail market in Nashville, NC. Through wine tastings, private parties, live music, and food truck vending events, The Vino Market has begun taking its rightful place in the industry.
Before The Vino Market, in 2019, Pope-Clark worked for her former company conducting business-to-business wine tasting events. After traveling throughout North Carolina to various wine stores, she decided to pursue her brand.
Thanks to her partnership with CCI, Pope-Clark is another recent Kiva loan recipient with a story to tell.
“I had been working with a couple of other places when I first started early part of 2021 and just didn’t get a good vibe,” Pope-Clark recalls of her past experiences.
She would find comfort in knowing the business center director and other clients personally found success working with CCI.
Before launching her $4,500 Kiva loan campaign, Pope-Clark funded her operations through personal finances.
Our simplified campaign approach allowed Pope-Clark to get the ball rolling and reach out to her immediate network of family and friends to invest in her campaign. Consistent follow-up from the CCI and Kiva teams throughout the campaign journey motivated her to share updates on the future location of The Vino Market. “It just kind of exploded after that,” says Pope-Clark, who would fully fund her campaign within three weeks.
“CCI made the process easy. They kept me informed of the entire process. If I had questions, I could send them an email, and they were able to answer them with no problem.”
The responsiveness and quick turnaround times assured Pope-Clark that she had connected with an organization that put entrepreneurs first.
“CCI was excellent to work with. I definitely would recommend them again to anybody that’s looking. As long as you put your work, time, and effort into it, I think it’d be a great partnership.”
So what’s next for Joanne Pope-Clark? She is steadily putting the finishing touches on her Nashville storefront and will officially open the doors of The Vino Market in April.