The Economic & Community Development Institute (ECDI) is a Columbus-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that acts as a leading Small Business Administration (SBA) intermediary microlender, providing capital, education, and mentorship to entrepreneurs. Established in 2004, it helps small businesses start, grow, and succeed.
The ECDI provides loans ranging from $500 to over $2 million. It offers comprehensive services, including one-on-one counseling, training, mentoring, and technical assistance. Its programs include food business support and specialized, inclusive support for women and veterans.
Headquartered in Columbus, it serves all of Ohio and beyond, with offices in Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Portsmouth, and Toledo. A certified Community Development Corporation and a Treasury-designated Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), it aims to foster economic independence and create jobs through entrepreneurship.
About ECDI
ECDI’s mission is to invest in people to create measurable and enduring social & economic change. It envisions vibrant communities across Ohio, each made distinct by the thriving and eclectic mix of small businesses that define their local character while enriching the lives of entrepreneurs and their families, employees and patrons.
Small businesses create communities. They enrich and support the lives of entrepreneurs, their employees & families, and the people they serve. They are what makes local economies thrive! At the root of every business are determined, dedicated people, and ECDI supports and invests in those people.
It is dedicated to assuring every entrepreneur has access to funding and the business mentoring services they need to build a small business that thrives. For small business clients in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, it serves as a one-stop resource center. Its coverage area includes all of Ohio and the Kentucky, Indiana, & West Virginia counties in the Greater Cincinnati & Portsmouth metropolitan areas.
Education, Investment, & Innovation
It takes more than loan funding to cultivate a successful small business. ECDI helps to transform entrepreneurs into well-rounded businesspeople, to exponentially increase their rate of success.
Unfortunately, not every business owner has equal access to funding. It’s ECDI’s job to change that, with access to responsible, affordable loan capital. Its innovative approach to solving complex societal & systemic issues consistently brings about new offerings for entrepreneurs.
In 2021, ECDI was named the top SBA microlender in the United States and is a leader in the CDFI industry. Donate to ECDI.
ECDI Leadership
Inna Kinney is ECDI’s Founder & Chief Executive Officer. She has devoted her career to helping people across Ohio find financial & professional stability through small business ownership.
She developed & managed an entrepreneurship program to assist new Americans who were resettling in Central Ohio, as part of her role with Jewish Family Services, the same organization that helped her family settle in Columbus when they immigrated from the former Soviet Union in 1974.
Inna witnessed the opportunities and the struggles that small business entrepreneurship presented to her family and others in her community. Her personal experience as a member of an immigrant family inspired and informed the development of ECDI.
ECDI’s Values
ECDI is based on the principle of leveling the playing field for those who face systemic barriers on the road to business ownership. It invests in individuals through funding, business training, and mentorship, with the goal of making a lasting impact on communities by creating social and economic change.
