Good News: Magic Johnson Funding $100 Million in Loans to Minority-Owned Businesses

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Former Laker Magic Johnson is providing $100 million in capital to help fund federal loans for minority and women business owners who have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Wall Street Journal.

EquiTrust, in which Johnson owns a majority stake, will work with MBE Capital Partners, a nonbank lender, to distribute the funds through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.

“Johnson’s EquiTrust is providing critical financial support to underserved communities and businesses that have been traditionally neglected,” EquiTrust and MBE Capital Partners said in a joint news release. “These small and diverse businesses often have difficulty developing strong lending relationships with big banks.”

MBE Capital CEO Rafael Martinez told MSNBC that their goal is to provide resources to 100,000 businesses in order to help them amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The Paycheck Protection Program has faced criticism for providing large companies, including the Los Angeles Lakers, with loans, and many questioned whether they were truly prioritizing businesses that needed aid the most.

“These are incredible businesses, small businesses, that have been the pillar of our community that also employ a lot of black and brown people in our community,” Johnson said on MSNBC. “We wanted to make sure that minority-owned businesses got small business loans through the PPP program.”

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