Vice Chair of Governance Committee | NADCO Region 9 Director

Hilda Kennedy

Hilda Kennedy is the Founder and President of AmPac Business Capital, the dba of AmPac Tri-State CDC. Kennedy started her career in economic development working as the Director of Economic Development for the City of Inglewood. During her 12 years with the City of Inglewood, Ms. Kennedy recognized the difficulty small business owners, particularly minority and women entrepreneurs, encountered in accessing capital for their businesses to grow. The desire to assist these businesses led her to the U.S. Small Business Administration seeking to establish a new Certified Development Company (CDC) in California. AmPac was established as a non-profit 501.C3 in 2005 and after a lengthy process, AmPac received its SBA Designation as a Certified Development Company.

Since its inception, AmPac has served more than 500 businesses through this program with over $1 Billion in loans, supporting the creation of more than 4,000 new jobs. As the nation’s only faith-based SBA lender, AmPac seeks to connect faith and business. For 14 years, AmPac has hosted its Connecting Faith & Business Summit bringing business and faith-based leaders together in San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange Counties for education, inspiration, and values-based networking.

A true visionary dedicated to assisting businesses at all stages, Ms. Kennedy sought to expand access to capital for businesses and AmPac became an SBA Microlender in 2016, a Community Financial Development Institution (CDFI) in 2017 and an SBA Community Advantage lender in 2021. These programs have allowed AmPac to serve small businesses who could not obtain traditional bank financing, supporting entrepreneurs with working capital from cradle to legacy, with loans from $5,000 - $350,000.

With her continued focus on access to capital for underserved markets, in 2021 Ms. Kennedy established an AmPac exclusive down payment assistance program to help women and minority business owners seeking to purchase commercial properties for their business. In 2020 and 2021, AmPac rallied to support businesses during the pandemic and provided over 700 businesses with more than $15 Million in PPP loans with an average loan size of $18,000, strategically working with smaller businesses who were not being assisted by larger financial institutions. AmPac administered emergency loans for the County of Riverside; COVID-19 grants for local banks and provided technical assistance in partnership with Lendistry for the CA COVID-19 Relief Grants for thousands of small businesses. During this time, the AmPac staff more than doubled in size, with 15 new jobs within the company.

AmPac launched its Entrepreneur Ecosystem in 2021 to provide “wrap-around” training, coaching and ongoing learning opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the I.E. Region and Southern California. With both a digital space, a mobile APP and a physical space, this unique center provides businesses with training that leads to capital for business growth in a state-of-the-art facility that seamlessly offers both in-person and hybrid options. AmPac has entered Memoranda of Understanding (MOU’s) with key SBA partners in the region, including Cal State San Bernardino Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship (IECE), Small Business Development Center – IE, Women’s Business Center – IE, and SCORE-IE. AmPac has also forged a partnership with the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) serving Southern California. The Ecosystem serves as a launch center for 10-12 entrepreneurs to spend 12-18 months receiving support services to propel them into healthy businesses to start leasing or owning the real estate for their business. Additionally, the ecosystem offers training space for community partners and non-profit organizations to further support small businesses.

AmPac’s vision, its “why”, is to uplift communities, strengthen families and advance entrepreneurial dreams, by financing and fostering small business success from cradle to legacy.
Ms. Kennedy is a truly inspirational woman, known and respected within the industry and the greater region.