Helping Small Businesses with SBA 504 Program on KQCD-TV North Dakota's NBC News Leader

Helping Small Businesses with SBA 504 Program |

Video

Marie Arceo

12/9/2009

Expanding a small business doesn`t come cheaply. For years, the Small Business Administration`s 504 Program has been a tool for both business owners and the community in spurring economic development. The newly formed Lewis and Clark Certified Development Company in Mandan is now hoping the program will help revitalize more growth in southwestern North Dakota. Some of the goals of the program include creating jobs, increasing productivity and revitalizing businesses. It`s one way small business owners can get the financing they need to expand.

Susan Huntington`s book store in Mandan is overflowing with books. More than 35,000 of them have been crammed onto shelves, stacked onto the floors, even piled high in the basement. Now Susan is thinking of expanding.her store, but the funds just aren`t there. Even start up costs for the business were more than what she and her husband anticipated.

"It was difficult financially. I think we were naïve in thinking how soon we would get some payback for what we were putting into it," she said.

It`s small businesses like Huntington Books that fill a niche in Downtown Mandan and that`s one of the reasons why the Lewis and Clark Regional Development Council developed the Lewis and Clark Certified Development Company to carry out the SBA 504 Loan Program. It provides growing businesses with long-term, fixed rate financing for major fixed assets, such as land and buildings.

"Basically the bank is going to do 50% of that, the SBA 504, which is the program we`re going to be doing, is going to do 40% of that, and the borrowers are going to do 10%," said Brent Ekstrom, the Director of Commercial Lending for the Lewis and Clark Regional Development Council.

Under certain guidelines, the program also requires businesses to create jobs.

"Even today, with the economics the way it is, Bismarck is still building buildings, Dickinson is still expanding, the western part of the state is still expanding, they`re still purchasing equipment, so there`s a high demand for it," said Brent.

And even though an expansion is still chapters away for Susan, it`s still a goal she hangs on to.

"I was told the other day that we are an asset to the community and that encourages me."

And when she`s ready, the Lewis and Clark CDC will be there to help. The Lewis and Clark CDC is in the application process and expects to start helping businesses by the middle of 2010.

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