Small business is a consistently resilient segment of the economy, but owners must work harder to get access to capital, which is getting more expensive as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates. Its September hike of 0.75 percentage points was the fifth increase of 2022, pushing rates, pushing its target range to 3.0 to 3.25%. Randy Garrett, CEO of OppZo, a financial technology company that seeks to democratize access to affordable working capital loans, called for a complete overhaul of how small business owners can access capital to sustain and grow their companies. He cited poor circulation of capital in some cities, and disparities between communities’ access to capital as nationwide issues, pointing out that over half of small businesses had unmet funding needs in 202, a factor in the closure of over 100,000 small businesses during the pandemic. A 6,000-mile road trip through the Midwest convinced him that the 52 million people who live in distressed communities or opportunity zones don’t have the same access to capital as both coasts and large metropolitan areas. Read the full commentary in Fortune magazine here.