5 Ways To Raise Your Business Finance

Grants and awards
Contact your bank manager, the Department of Trade and Industry, Business Link, the Training and Enterprise Council, the European Commission, your MP, Euro MP, Chamber of Commerce, local networking group, trade or professional association and your accountant for information.

Big companies sometimes have a programme to support entrepreneurs: Shell and IBM have done so in the past. There are many grants available particularly if you are set up in a relatively less developed part of the country. They are clearly worth pursuing but sometimes the research and application process can be time consuming with no guaranteed result. Time that could have been spent productively. (more…)

| Finance Management |

Financing Your Business With Regular SBA Loans

Many banks won’t loan money to small businesses without the federal government guarantee under a variety of SBA programs.

Charles Keller was an industrial designer who started making cus­tom furniture in his North Andover, Massachusetts, garage in the early 1970s. Driven by the demand of family and friends, the business grew until Charlie incorporated C.W. Keller & Associates in 1976. The company, which specializes in distinctive wood and custom wood-veneer products for retail, commercial, and residential customers, moved to Plaistow, New Hampshire, in 1989.

The company grew with the help of three different loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Charlie witnessed first­hand the evolution of the loan program that Congress initiated as capital of last resort for small businesses who could not borrow any other way. The program has grown into the source of 30 percent of long-term loans to small businesses today. The SBA’s largest loan program is called 7(a), which encompasses several special-interest loans with various require­ments, such as microloans, employee stock ownership plans, pollution control, and export working capital loans. (more…)

| Finance Management |

Get Business Capital From Life Insurance Policy

A business owner may be able to borrow against the paid-up cash value of a life insurance policy to obtain capital for requirements of a start-up or ongoing company.

In the late 1970s, Steve Birge was working in Vermont restaurant he could spend his free time skiing. He noticed that the restaurants needed fresh produce. So he approached fellow skier Mark Curran to join him in starting Black River Produce, which is now headquartered in Proctorsville, Vermont. They pooled some cash and got a loan for a Volkswagen bus to pick up fresh fruits and vegetables from the Boston wholesale market two and-a-half hours away and transport them back to Vermont ski resorts.

“I wanted to get in to something that was a constant need,” Steve says. “Everyone has to eat. Produce is good for you. The government gives you free advertising about the value of eating fruits and vegetables. This was something I saw as a great need.” (more…)

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