Small business seminar.

BY BILL FREEHLING

Date published: 7/13/2007

BY BILL FREEHLING

Private and public lenders are willing and eager to loan money to small businesses, but the borrower must first demonstrate a strong commitment and business plan.

That was one of the main messages at a seminar Wednesday attended by nearly 100 current or prospective small-business owners in the Fredericksburg area.

The Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce put on the Small Business Capitalization Forum at the Fredericksburg Country Club. Four speakers addressed business loans and how to get them.

Several themes connected the four presentations. Starting a small business is risky, and the majority fail. Loans are available, but not without a strong business plan. Borrowers must shoulder part of the risk.

Chamber President Robert Hagan started the seminar by posing the day's central question. "Money--where do you get it?" Hagan asked rhetorically. He told the audience the four speakers could potentially offer them "nuggets of gold."

The first speaker was Ronald Bew, director for the Richmond office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Bew noted that some of the world's best companies--including Nike, Apple and Intel--received SBA loans. He said the Fredericksburg Riverside Dinner Theater is a local success story. He urged people to seek help from the taxpayer-funded organization.

"Please use us," Bew said. "We have a $600 million budget. You're paying for us. So take advantage of us."

Bew warned that the SBA doesn't lend money unless the borrower shows a strong business plan, good credit and equity investment.

"You must have some skin in the game to get one of our loans," Bew said.

The SBA helps secure funding for those who don't quite qualify for traditional bank loans. The SBA guarantees all or part of the loan. The organization doesn't do grants or direct loans.

Another public-funding option is the Virginia Department of Business Assistance, which was represented Wednesday by Anna Mackley Cobb, a project finance manager.

Cobb noted that her department, like the SBA, can back businesses that don't quite qualify for private loans. But she noted that the publicly financed loans carry a slightly higher interest rate, and borrowers must be prepared to put up collateral.

"We are here to help your company get access to financing," Cobb said, adding that "the purpose of our program is not to provide cheap and easy money."

Date published: 7/13/2007