New funds to help Mountain BizWorks expand small business lending across Western North Carolina
(Asheville, NC): Mountain BizWorks is the recipient of a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to establish a revolving loan fund to support loans to growing small businesses across the Western North Carolina region. The grant funds are matched by an additional $750,000 in local funds for a total project size of $1,500,000.
“Small businesses are the engine of our region’s economy and they’re running strong,” states William Carrington board chair, Mountain BizWorks. “The EDA investment provides additional will help us meet the fast growing demand for capital from enterprising small business owners throughout WNC.”
In 2016, Mountain BizWorks made 114 loans totaling $3.3 million to startup and expanding small businesses, with an average loan size of just under $30,000. This represented a record lending year for the agency and an 80% increase in loan volume from the prior year. These loans combined with the agency’s entrepreneurial training programs assisted 70 new businesses start, and 80 existing businesses expand; resulting in over 300 new jobs created. Mountain BizWorks provides small business loans when traditional bank loans aren’t available or sufficient.
“Growing our WNC small business community takes a team effort,” adds Mountain BizWorks executive director Patrick Fitzsimmons. “We are so pleased to receive this investment from EDA which will directly help dozens of individuals realize their small business dreams and create quality jobs.”
Read the official EDA announcement here: www.eda.gov/news/press-releases/2017/02/16/western-nc.htm
Individuals interested in learning more about Mountain BizWorks’ small business lending and training services, should go to www.mountainbizworks.org.
###
