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HSBC, BB&T, Bank of America and Regions are experimenting with new ways to attract small-business borrowers, but each bank's strategy builds on something it did well already.
April 30
It was her brother's dying wish that she get into the business.
Deb Stanzak, founder of RonWear Port-able Clothing, makes French Terry fabric jackets and pants designed with special holes for those undergoing medical treatment.
She's also one of 12 winners to receive a $250,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Living Social, a deal website for businesses. The companies named the winners in their "Mission: Small Business" grant program on Tuesday.
The idea was born when her late brother, Ron Papes, was undergoing dialysis and constantly complained of being cold, because he needed to wear a short-sleeved shirt to make room for the his treatment port. A lifelong seamstress, Stanzak one day whipped up a jacket with a zipper in the arm that her brother could wear instead.
"The next time I came in, my brother said, 'Oh my gosh, everybody wants one of these,'" says Stanzak. "Patients wanted to know where to get one, and the nurses loved it."
"He bothered me about it over and over again for probably the six months he was alive," she adds. "Until finally one day, the weekend he died, he said to me, 'Please promise me you'll make these for people.'"
The business opened online in August 2010 and quickly sold out. Stanzak was in the middle of re-launching with new inventory when she found out about the grant program, announced in May. Her company will use the money to keep growing, she says.
Richard Quigley, president of the business card unit at JPMorgan, says the bank used the contest to highlight the work of creative entrepreneurs like Stanzak.
"The genesis of this program was really to help identify those small businesses that had very unique, very promising ideas and make sure they were going to get the capital they needed to get to the next phase of growth," he says.
But the bank and daily deal website also designed the grant contest to drive online traffic to their "Mission: Small Business" website through social media. Each business needed to get at least 250 consumer votes to be eligible to win the money, with many businesses hyping the contest (and splashing the Chase/Living Social logos) on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to secure those votes. Supporters voted by connecting to the website via Facebook, giving the companies access to their data, according to the website's privacy policy.
In all, nearly 70,000 businesses participated and 3.1 million consumers voted, according to Quigley.
