Manny Flores with ACHIEVE Summit Series on growth, stability, and legacy
[https://wgnradio.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/11/1st-Mil-podcast-artwork-1.png?w=720]https://wgnradio.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/11/1st-Mil-podcast-artwork-1.pngHost Bo Kemp of “The First Million is Always the Hardest” and “First Million Mondays” heard on the Wintrust Business Lunch with John Williams – all photos Sara Altwal
Manny Flores, President & CEO, SomerCor
and The First Million is Always the Hardest podcast come together as part of the ACHIEVE Summit Series. Host Bo Kemp sits down with Manny Flores at WGN Radio for a conversation about one of the most important tools in small business growth: the SBA 504 loan. As a nonprofit lender and Certified Development Company, SomerCor helps businesses access long-term capital for commercial real estate, equipment, and expansion. Under Manny’s leadership, the organization continues to play a critical role in helping entrepreneurs secure the kind of financing that supports ownership, stability, and long-term growth. But this conversation is about more than lending. It is about how access to capital shapes who gets to grow, who gets to own, and who gets to build lasting businesses in their communities. Bo and Manny explore how 504 loans work, why commercial ownership can become a strategic advantage, and how structured financing helps businesses scale without draining working capital. They also discuss the broader role community-based lenders play in economic development and why capital access remains one of the biggest barriers for entrepreneurs trying to grow. As a Title Sponsor of the 2026 ACHIEVE Summit, SomerCor’s involvement reflects a shared belief that entrepreneurship requires more than ambition — it requires real pathways to capital, ownership, and scale. This episode is about financing as a tool for growth, stability, and legacy. Because the first million is not only about making money. It is about getting access to the capital that lets you own what you build.
https://serve.castfire.com/audio/8367915/8367915_2026-05-08-080915.64kmono.mp3 [https://serve.castfire.com/audio/8367915/8367915_2026-05-08-080915.64kmono.mp3]
Host Bo Kemp and Achieve Summit Keynote Speaker, Marcus Lemonis [https://wgnradio.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/04/First-Million-Marcus-L.jpg?w=900]https://wgnradio.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/04/First-Million-Marcus-L.jpgHost Bo Kemp and Achieve Summit Keynote Speaker, Marcus Lemonis – all photos Sara Altwal
Marcus Lemonis joins the 2026 ACHIEVE Summit as a keynote speaker, bringing a rare combination of operator discipline, acquisition expertise, and national business influence. Marcus Lemonis brings one of the clearest real-world cases for ownership through acquisition in America. Best known to many from The Profit and The Fixer, Marcus built his career by buying, restructuring, and scaling businesses across fragmented industries, including RV retail and consumer brands, making him a strong fit for a summit focused on entrepreneurship through acquisition, ownership, and long-term value creation. He studied at Marquette, has deep Midwest ties, and has led major business platforms from the Chicago region—giving his keynote both national credibility and a meaningful connection to the communities ACHIEVE is built to serve. This conversation is about more than turnaround stories. It is about what it really takes to buy, build, and lead businesses at scale. At the heart of Marcus’s career is a disciplined approach to identifying hidden value, stepping into overlooked businesses, and transforming them through sharper operations, stronger leadership, and strategic vision. His perspective reflects a bigger truth that sits at the center of the ACHIEVE Summit mission: wealth is not created through ideas alone. It is created through ownership, stewardship, and the ability to grow what already has the potential to become great. This keynote is about acquisition as a path to scale, leadership as a tool for transformation, and ownership as the foundation for lasting impact. Because building something meaningful is not only about starting from scratch. Sometimes it is about seeing what others missed—and having the courage to buy, build, and lead it into its next chapter. For information on Achieve Summit speakers, sponsorships, times and tickets go to https://southlanddevelopment.org/achieve-summit [https://southlanddevelopment.org/achieve-summit]
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