Small Business Loan Opportunities

There is no question that businesses are feeling the effects of the economic downturn. Small businesses especially have felt the economic slow down due to customers that are more inclined to save than spend.

Not all the news is bad though.  According to the St. Louis Business Journal, the St. Patrick Center has helped 11 new small businesses open as party of the BEGIN New Venture Center, a business incubator at the agency’s Partnership Center in downtown St. Louis.

Other entrepreneurs in St. Louis are looking at opportunities to start small businesses as evidenced by the new businesses in Downtown, the Central West End, Tower Grove South, etc.

The State of Missouri is also trying to help small businesses that may be facing difficulties.  The Missouri Small Business Loan Program is now accepting applications and has issued guidelines for small businesses to apply for loans of between $2,500 and $25,000.  Missouri businesses with five employees or fewer may apply for these loans that are typically repaid over a ten-year term at a interest rate of 3%.

Loan Application Instructions:

• Loan applications must be made on the form provided (attached);
• Due to expected demand, all first round loan applications shall be postmarked no later than June 26, 2009 or delivered by hand by 5:00 pm on June 26, 2009;
• One (1) original signed and one (1) complete copy shall be postmarked or delivered by the deadline to:

Missouri Department of Economic Development
Governor Nixon′s Microloan Program
301 West High Street, Suite 680
P.O. Box 1157
Jefferson City, Missouri 65102

• All loan applications shall be accompanied by at least 2, originally signed, letters of character from Missouri citizens (names, addresses and telephone numbers included) who have personal and business relationships with the applicant (at least one letter from a personal relationship and one letter from a business relationship):
• Loan applications that are not complete (all questions answered) or in compliance with steps 1-4 above may be considered non-responsive and eliminated from the initial lottery selection system;
• Applicants chosen in the lottery system will be required to complete the loan origination paperwork, including the payment of any reasonable processing fees, prior to access to the loan funds.

Posted by The Core Editor on Jun 3 2009. Filed under Business, Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.