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 Gwendolyn Wright is the managing principal of The Wright Consultants, LLC a small business management company established in 1994 and headquartered in San Francisco. The mission of The Wright Consultants is to help clients make better decisions faster and keep more of the money they make. She supports clients in their desire to manage time and resources. An emphasis is on management and technical assistance, capital formation, income production and economic development. Services incorporate confidential consultations with the design of management tools such as strategic business plans, financial projections, action plans and loan packaging documentation. The Wright Consultants provide advice and information coaching start-ups, emerging businesses and expanding companies focusing on sustainability and scalability.
Gwendolyn, a busy small business finance expert is considered “the” entrepreneur’s consultant. Clients include small business owners, economic development organizations, non-profits and merchant associations. She helps entrepreneurs working within diverse industries such as personal services; technology and telecommunications, manufacturing and distribution, retail & wholesale, and e-commerce. Small business subsectors include fashion apparel and jewelry designers; real estate, therapists, furniture and graphic designers, photographers, videographers, restaurateurs, retailers, wedding producers; and pet store owners to name a few. When working on projects her philosophy for success is individual attention, and the highest quality of work completed on time and within budget. She develops long term relationships with her clients.
Wright is committed to opportunities that inspire & empower entrepreneurs in their quest for knowledge, prosperity, and independence. She has assisted over 250 entrepreneurs obtain more than $15 million in small business loans. For such endeavors, she was awarded the Small Business Administration Finance Advocate of the Year Award in 2005. Ms. Wright has earned a reputation for having a contemporary management style combining finance skills and business development expertise with community involvement. Transforming creative ideas into profitable companies is a particular strength, especially when linking the efficient application of budgets, profit margin analysis, market trends, and operational considerations. Ms. Wright is action-oriented because she encourages communication. She is an analyst, strategist, trend observer, and small business anthropologist. Primarily she is an achiever and results-oriented enthusiast whose personal mission is to make a tangible contribution to the success of each client. She is very passionate about what she does.
In June 2010 she completed a comprehensive needs assessment for a neighborhood community center based on focus groups, surveys and interview. In April 2010 she created and facilitated San Francisco’s first Speed Lending workshop matching traditional, alternative and peer-to-peer lenders with emerging entrepreneurs. In February 2009 she facilitated a panel discussion of diverse Bay Area alternative lenders to focus on availability of loan funds during a challenging economy. She further developed her Quick and Dirty Finance Series, important content because “all roads lead to the numbers”. In September 2009 she launched her first social media production, a video blog-BIG TV-Business Is Good. Its goal is to cultivate a small business society. Additionally, in fall 2008, as a part of Independent Artists Week, Gwendolyn facilitated a panel discussion at the Museum of African Diaspora (MOAD), entitled Getting Down to Business: The State of Indie Art in the Bay”. The artistic panel included international hip hop artists Chuck D and Davey D, along with Ghazi Shami of Ingroove, an online music distribution company, just to name a few. Her questions were focused on the “business of show” and achieving financial stability as an artist. Since it’s inception she continues to serve on the Advisory Board of Infin8 Sync, an entertainment production company, which features Bring Your Own Art, a monthly independent artist’s empowerment event. In May 2007 she served as a judge at the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship business plan competition in San Francisco. In early 2008 she assisted Juma Ventures Young Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) working one on one with young people helping them develop budgets, expenditure reports and other financial statements to qualify for financing.
In May 2006 she served as a panelist at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club’s INFORUM-Women Entrepreneurs: Catapulting Business to the Next Level. During Small Business Week 2006 participated in a panel discussion on How to Finance Your Business sponsored by SBA, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and Wells Fargo Bank. In March 2005 she designed and facilitated a financial health workshop “Living Large on a Budget” targeting teenage girls for the 5th Annual Young Women’s Health Conference hosted by State Senator Jackie Speier and the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women’s health. She continues to serve as a working member of the Union Square West Association, a group of citizens whose purpose is to keep the neighborhood safe and clean for its residents and business owners.
Appointed by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Jr. to the Small Business Commission she served as Vice President from 2002 until 2004 where she was the chairperson of the Budget Committee. She served on the Mayor's Office of Community Development Small Business Loan Committee four years overseeing the approval of small business loans to entrepreneurs throughout San Francisco. Community service includes serving as an Advisory Board Member of the Bayview Opera House {a community arts center serving at-risk youths} where she previously served as the Chair of the finance committee. An early proponent of fair trade, recycling and sustainability Gwendolyn in September 2002 served as a panelist during a 2 day seminar sponsored by the Social Venture Institute entitled Business Solutions for Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs.
She helped found the Fillmore Jazz Preservation District Merchants Association, assisting in their organizational development. Ms. Wright made a significant contribution to the National Community Development Association Annual Conference with her power point presentation, serving as a panelist for the workshop-Economic Development Financing: Beyond HUD. Ms. Wright contributed to the San Francisco Small Business Forum in 2000 as a member of the Globalization and Procurement plenary session. In April 1999, she visited Ghana and South Africa as a congressional delegate with the trade and friendship mission lead by Congresswoman Barbara Lee. She is on the Advisory Board of the internationally acclaimed San Francisco Black Film Festival having served in this capacity since its inception in 1998.
Ms. Wright acquired an abundance of management and technical skills during her first career as a bank executive underwriting "high net worth" private banking loans, business loans and real estate transactions. As a Private Banker, she developed and managed a $50 million portfolio of business and professional clients. As a First Vice President, she had a multi-million dollar individual lending authority and as Credit Administrator, managed a $750 million loan portfolio. She served as Chair of the Bank's Credit Approval Committee and was a member of the Board of Directors’ Loan and Investment Committee. She also managed the collateral position of two regulatory lines of credit and designed risk stratification reports for use by the Board of Directors and Federal and State regulatory agencies.
Ms. Wright received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and completed graduate study in Business Administration at Golden Gate University, and the National Commercial Lending Graduate School, Corporate Banking Division, at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.
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