Small Business Ownership Starts with Betting on Yourself

by Shirley Boubert-Rumble

Top image: Shirley and members of the Usource team on site on the site the George E. Peters Adventist School project in Hyattsville, MD.

When I pulled funds from my retirement pension to fund the launch of my own company, I knew it was a big risk. But if I wasn’t willing to bet on myself, my expertise, my business plan, who else would?

Construction can be a very convoluted process, and mission-oriented organizations and municipalities need a trusted partner to guide them through the multitude of phases and steps, and that’s why I started Usource Construction.

The daughter of a Boston bricklayer, I was inspired by the built environment, which led me to earn a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering and a master’s degree in real estate development. By creating a full-service business model that incorporates project management and real estate development expertise and understanding that our people are our greatest asset, Usource has achieved tremendous success in a male-dominated industry since we started in 2014. Our portfolio boasts several iconic buildings, and we continue to grow into new opportunities. It took recognizing a need and going all-in to fulfill it — which always involves risk — but we couldn’t have gotten where we are without the gamble.

I am proud of my company and the reputation it has earned through the effort, time, and resources that we spend completing projects successfully and developing new business. That approach is what allows us to continue to grow, employ more people, and now have better access to the capital we need to scale. But too many potential small business owners are stuck.

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, created in 1994 with bipartisan support, has certainly expanded access to capital for marginalized communities, but we can’t rest on CDFI as the solution. More conventional lenders and larger banks have rigid underwriting criteria that require loan officers to “check the boxes.” I understand their need to be prudent, but there are ways to have both underwriting criteria that mitigate risk but also allow some flexibility for judgment calls and not just the checking off a list of criteria.

According to a 2024 Wells Fargo report, fourteen million small businesses in America are women-owned, accounting for nearly 40% of all businesses. However, the disappointing reality is that only 50% of small businesses survive in their fifth year. This only begs the follow-up question: How many businesses would have had a better chance for success if they had better access to capital?

To date, my risky investment has delivered big rewards — both monetary and intangible rewards — but a dated and cumbersome underwriting process to access capital could have and should have been more flexible if our nation truly wants to support small business growth.   

As a black, female owner of a construction business, this is the message I deliver to lawmakers on Capitol Hill who steadfastly support small business in America but still benefit from hearing directly from those of us who have faced the varied obstacles that are holding back the launch and growth of promising, job-creating businesses across the United States.

Shirley Boubert-Rumble, MS, MSRE, is the chief executive officer of Usource Construction, a mission-oriented, female- and minority-owned, CBE-certified construction company that guides its clients through the development and construction process for residential and commercial projects.