May 18, 2020 (New York, NY) — Earvin “Magic” Johnson, majority owner of EquiTrust, the nation’s largest minority-owned insurance company, announced a $100 million partnership with MBE Capital Partners (MBECP), the largest certified minority-owned asset-based lender, and the National Action Network (NAN).

MBE Capital is perfectly positioned to help small and diverse businesses take advantage of this latest round of PPP funding; and the company is an approved SBA lender with over 20 years of experience serving diverse and minority businesses.

According to Rafael Martinez, CEO of MBE Capital: “I contacted EquiTrust, to be an additional strategic partner because I know that EquiTrust believes in changing outcomes for underserved communities the way I do.

He added: “After receiving hundreds of emails and calls from applicants asking if they can receive their PPP loans as soon as possible because this was a last hope to stay open – and in some cases to keep food on the tables of their employees – I was moved to expand this and look to fund over 20,000 PPP loans for minority companies”

“This is a unique SBA-backed opportunity to use the vast resources of EquiTrust’s to prudently provide real and much needed cash to deserving minority and women-owned businesses that find it difficult to secure such funding through traditional means,” said Eric Holoman, President and Chief Executive Officer of EquiTrust.

In June of 2015, Earvin “Magic” Johnson became majority owner of EquiTrust Life Insurance, the largest minority-owned life insurance company in the history of the country at $22 billion in assets.