Overview: Jay Diallo, a Ghanaian-born entrepreneur, founded First Community Capital (FCC) in 2019 to expand access to affordable capital and mentorship to economically disadvantaged small businesses and lower income individuals. FCC does micro lending for small businesses which it combines with providing training and business counseling. Diallo was inspired to start up FCC after meeting Nobel Prize winner and economist from Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, in Los Angeles, in 2018. FCC funded about 150 loans in 2024, 95% of which went to and are being paid back by minority owned businesses. Diallo emphasizes the importance of an individual’s FICO score, business plan, and knowing where they are getting their money from when starting a business.
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Ghanaian-born and raised, Jay Diallo, is the founder of First Community Capital (FCC), a financial institution in Riverside with the purpose to expand access to affordable capital and mentorship to economically disadvantaged small businesses and lower income individuals.
FCC does micro lending for small businesses. They combine the lending with training and business counseling. FCC is a 501(c) (3) non profit established in 2019. It is located at 2060 Chicago Ave., Suite A11, Riverside, CA 92507.
Diallo had worked as a banker for 16 years, and remembered turning people down for loans due to bank policies such as not having a certain level of credit, collateral or a defined amount of cash in the bank. Diallo believes those prerequisites automatically red line some minority groups and he wanted to create a financial institution that focused more on the people than traditional banking parameters.
He was inspired to start up FCC after meeting Nobel Prize winner and economist from Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, in Los Angeles, in 2018.
“He was the one who was the founder of microfinance, he came from Bangladesh,” Diallo said.
“I was working for a bank at the time when he and I were talking. He was sharing with me the impact that [microfinance] had in developing countries, and talking to me about the possibility of having the same concept here in the United States,” Diallo continued.
Diallo chose to make FCC a non profit organization to allow his business the ability to raise funding to help accomplish his vision for creating an avenue where underserved communities can come and have access to capital.
“Also, we don’t want to be tied into shareholders’ vision, because we want to make sure that our shareholders are our communities, not investors,” Diallo noted.
Once FCC was open to the public in 2019, it faced difficulties trying to be seen as a trusted business, for which Diallo said being a Black-owned business specifically played a part. Even now, as an established business with results, Diallo said FCC still faces some adversity.
“There were nationwide surveys done of all the CDFIs, which is Community Development Financial Institutions—we are part of it. They did a survey comparing all the CDFIs [led] by Blacks and the white led CDFIs. There’s disproportional funding more towards the white led CDFIs than the Black led CDFIs. So, even if we get supported, the disparity in terms of the final level [of support] is still there,” Diallo shared.
Diallo said it is key to talk to prominent Black led organizations who need to start focusing on supporting other Black businesses in order to help combat some of this disproportionate funding. Diallo shared that he sees the lack of aid and funding amongst Black businesses a lot in the community.
“There are some Black led organizations that we submitted a grant [request] to [and] we didn’t receive it. I’m just gonna be honest, sadly, I get more funding from some of the white foundations than some of the Black foundations. So we need to clean up our house first, because, even within our own Black community, we don’t get the support,” Diallo said.
In 2024, FCC funded about 150 loans and 95% of those loans went to and are being paid back by minority owned businesses, according to Diallo.
“It gives us joy to see that we can help a family come out of poverty, [help provide] financial stability, if we [just] help them with their side hustle,” said Diallo. He believes the side hustles [small businesses] create additional income that helps these entrepreneurs pay their bills, including their mortgages, while also having some left over for discretionary spending.
Diallo’s Top Financial Tips for Black entrepreneurs
According to Diallo, the foundation for starting a business is an individual’s FICO score, business plan, and knowledge about where they are getting their [start-up] money.
“Your personal credit is more important than anything else, and that’s what a lot of people don’t know. If you don’t have at least a FICO score of 640, and above, you need to work on your personal credit first,” Diallo said.
He continued. “When an entrepreneur is thinking about starting a business, they shouldn’t think that getting a loan as the first source of capital, because what happens is that a lot of the businesses, a lot of institutions, don’t support or provide access to capital for startups. And, if they do startups, it might be a very low amount. So people need to think about using their own funds to be able to start their business.”
Diallo further stressed the importance of seeking education about running a business, seeking a mentor, and understanding your business plan. “Allow somebody to help you out,” he emphasized. This includes such resources as a Certified Public Accountant and an attorney.
This article is part of the 2025 Black Voice News Series, Good Black Jobs: Advancing Meaningful Work and Wealth in the Inland Empire. This reporting initiative is funded through a grant provided by Thrive Inland SoCal Catalyst Fund in partnership with the Inland Empire Community Foundation.