Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project: Building your Business Spine to Access More Capital

DNEP’s program and business development manager Siobhan Barrett will be speaking at the 2026 National Microloan Conference, taking place in Detroit on October 13-14, 2026.

Session Title: Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project: Building your Business Spine to Access More Capital

Description:

What does it really take for a small business to be ready for capital? At the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project, we’ve learned it’s rarely just about the loan application. It’s about building the “business spine”: the legal, tech, data and finance systems that hold a business up and give lenders confidence.

In this interactive session, attendees will explore:

🔹 The 5 C’s of credit (character, capacity, capital, collateral and conditions) and the documents lenders use to assess each one
🔹 Where applications most often get stuck, and how to close those gaps
🔹 Why readiness can take two years for one owner and a single meeting for another
🔹 Practical, responsible ways to use AI for financial tasks, from automating bookkeeping to rehearsing a loan interview

This session will take place on Wednesday, October 14 from 10-11  AM. The session is designed for entrepreneurs, lenders and service providers alike, because access to capital works best when everyone is working from the same playbook.

Attending? Stop by and say hello. And if you’re a Detroit business owner looking for free accounting, tech or legal support, we’d love to hear from you.

(Note: There is a registration fee to attend the conference. DNEP staff participate in this event pro bono.)