Downtown-based CTBC Bank USA has contributed $300,000 to support small business wildfire recovery efforts led by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

The funds will be used to enhance LAEDC’s Together for LA Initiative, which was first launched in response to Covid and reactivated amid the devastating wildfires seen in L.A. last month.

Stephen Cheung, chief executive of the LAEDC, said that during the pandemic “a lot of assistance was being offered, but when it comes to small businesses, they weren’t getting the right information.”

Cheung said he wants to prevent the same issues from occurring again by “streamlining information” to “address the needs of small businesses.”

To do so, the LAEDC has set up a website to consolidate information for small businesses.

Noor Menai, president and chief executive of CTBC Bank USA, said that while there were a lot of resources available to small businesses, some of them were “not focused,” which is something the initiative will help with.

Cheung said his goals for the Together for LA Initiative are two pronged: first to help small businesses plan and adjust and second to help them survive in the long run.

For some businesses, this survival will come from moving operations online, changing their supply chain or areas of operation.

Menai said the bank decided to work with the LAEDC because of its longstanding relationship with Cheung and its desire to “find an organization that could really make a difference…one that has strength and knowledge.”

He said the bank really wanted to support small businesses specifically.

“We are a community bank here in the United States. Our focus begins and ends with small business,” Menai said.

Alaska Airlines, Paragon Commercial Group, Wells Fargo and Asian Business Association LA have also given money to support LAEDC’s efforts.

Aiding the local community

Cheung and Menai both said investing in areas impacted by the Eaton Fire was a priority.

“There is obviously a need in Altadena as a less prosperous community…these are folks that don’t have second homes to go to,” Menai said.

The initiative will invest in businesses in the Palisades area as well.

For Cheung, decisions on where to invest will come down to data. The LAEDC has found that nearly 1,900 businesses employing nearly 10,000 people with annual sales of $1.4 billion were directly affected by the fires.

Another issue being considered is if a business was to reopen immediately, if it would be able to thrive. For example, if a restaurant in the area was able to reopen today, would it have enough customers to sustain itself?

“You don’t want to rush and develop a business…if the community’s not there yet,” Cheung said.

This means looking at ways for businesses to do well even if that business has to look a little different than it used to. It could mean a transition to ecommerce, or using pop up shop concepts in areas not impacted directly by the fires.

Long-term aid

Cheung said that after the fires began “the initial response was huge.”

Still, with many natural disasters there is a lot of money that pours in initially before slowing down despite the rebuilding process taking years if not decades.

Cheung said that’s why long-term solutions and helping the area’s small businesses was so important.

“This investment from CTBC allows LAEDC to work on these long-term programs,” Cheung said “What we saw was whenever there’s a disaster and emergency situation, the resources are often given to the individual and then the business are second or third …we can’t wait that long. Businesses are employing individuals, and they can’t make payroll. You need to look at small businesses from the beginning.”

Since the fires began, a number of different groups have launched as well to offer aid, but some questions have arisen about how many groups there now are.

“There’s room for improvement when it comes to coordination, you don’t want to duplicate the service,” Cheung said.

He added that he saw an opportunity for there to be comprehensive infrastructure built to help Angelenos during disasters.

“We want to take this as a lesson learned so next time there is something, we can immediately coordinate,” Cheung said.