Seeing the announcement that Sequoia Capital invested $27.5 million in Jack Dorsey’s Square, reminded me of the fact that many of those interested in the underbanked are stuck thinking about the consumer.   Well, this “consumer” is a person fully capable of economic production, by means of a job and entrepreneurship.   This “consumer” generates over a $1T in income in aggregate and sends hundreds of billions back home outside the US.  She contributes meaningfully to the GDP of the US and that of many developing countries.  Very often she earns less than a living wage.

Square (Google it if you’re scratching your head), of course, allow small merchants, who don’t already have a merchant processor, to accept credit, debit and prepaid card payments (cash, too) right on a phone.  Sure, Prada can use them in their stores, kind of like Apple Stores do, but the real power is for all the small merchants who have no other way to accept card payments: nannies, window washers, courriers, hot dog stands, gardeners, house cleaners, handymen, shoe shiners, food trucks, art vendors, street musicians, drivers, and of course a mathemagician or two.

We know surprisingly little about underbanked small businesses like these.  I know there are many. Many generate an income for at least one family.  Many have one or more employees and are in fact those people who are picking themselves up by their bootstraps.  But just like underbanked consumers, underbanked small business lacks financial services options, and many of the options that do exist are quite expensive.

Not just are payment tools, like Square, few and far between for these small businesses run by low and moderate income entrepreneurs, but so is credit.  Dun and Bradstreet doesn’t know the Hallal stand on my office corner.  So how do they finance that $50,000 all-in-one truck?

If you’re not banked, or don’t have a credit score (or heaven forbid you have an imperfect one), but you run a small business you are in a tough spot.  Innovators like On Deck Capital can help if you’re just a little bigger.  Nonprofits like Grameen America or Accion can help, but are limited in scale and capacity.  Companies like MatchLend and Cortera are doing cool stuff.  Who is going to offer a merchant cash advance on Jack Dorsey’s Square?  Anyone?