Industrial Bank Marks 80th Anniversary With Small Business Grant

The nation’s sixth largest black-owned financial institution, Industrial Bank of Washington, D.C., is celebrating 80 years in business by awarding small business grants to support local entrepreneurs. Industrial Bank has announced its new Small Business Grant initiative in an effort to continue to provide capital necessary to support existing entrepreneurial enterprises to position them for long-term success.

Five grants totaling $80,000 will be awarded to companies meeting specific criteria, all doing business in Industrial Bank’s service area. Participating partners in this effort will include: The U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., FSC First of Prince Georges County, Operation HOPE, and the DC Chamber of Commerce.

Industrial holds the No. 6 spot on the BE 100s Financial Services list with $363.3 million in assets and a staff of 120 employees. As an important driver of recent growth in Washington, Landover and Baltimore, CEO Doyle Mitchell Jr. has managed the bank’s position and participation in Washington D.C. Since its inception in 1934, Industrial has been a pillar of community banking in the capital region by providing residents, small businesses and nonprofits with someone to talk to, get advice from, and do business together.

An anniversary celebration took place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Arena Stage in Southwest DC. The purpose of the event was to thank the bank’s customers and employees for their support over the years and to honor its founding in 1934 by Jesse H. Mitchell, with a mission to promote financial and economic empowerment. Over the past decades, Industrial Bank has provided the commercial and small business loans necessary to fuel the aspirations of businessmen and women in the DC Metro area, with a proven track record of providing financial services to small businesses and low-to-moderate income communities therein.