The General Assembly finds that: small businesses have proven to be a fast growing and reliable form of successful business expansion and successful new business creation; small businesses play a major role in the economy of the State and have been a continuing source of increasing tax revenues and job opportunities; the growth of small businesses should be encouraged and should be an integral part of the State’s economic development effort; socially or economically disadvantaged individuals often lack adequate capital and are unable to obtain financing from financial institutions or venture capital firms to begin and develop a small business, or to purchase an existing business; and promoting the creation and viability of small businesses and the purchase of existing businesses by socially or economically disadvantaged individuals is in the public interest. The purposes of the Equity Participation Investment Program are to: encourage and help socially or economically disadvantaged individuals to create and develop small businesses and acquire existing businesses in the State; and assist small businesses that, because they do not meet the established credit criteria of financial institutions, cannot obtain adequate business financing on reasonable terms through normal financing channels.