Leader Bank, in conjunction with TiE-Boston, sponsored a seminar on “Accessing Capital for Your Small Business” on April 21st. The workshop reviewed a number of options available to the small businesses in local communities when searching for capital sources, with an emphasis on programs and initiatives by the Small Business Administration (SBA).

Robert Nelson, the Massachusetts District Director of the SBA, provided an overview of SBA programs available. In addition, he discussed recent provisions approved as part of the 2010 Jobs Bill, which has expanded the number of businesses eligible for SBA loans by increasing the alternate size standard to those small businesses with less than $15 million in net worth and $5 million in average net income.

“Small businesses are the fabric of the society. Two-third of the new new jobs in the past decade have been created by small businesses,” said Nelson. SBA is there to help you whether you are looking to start you business or grow your business. Some of the ‘big’ businesses today were started with the help of SBA including AOL, Apple, Ben and Jerry’s, FedEx, Intel, Nike, Outback, Quiznos, Staples and many others.

The goals of SBA are to provide education, access to capital, help with federal contracting, advocacy and disaster assistance for small businesses. Last year alone, SBA helped over 31,844 individual including 8,614 by SCORE and 2,802 by CWE. In Massachusetts, it gave more than $350M in loans to nearly 2,000 businesses of which 66% were approved under the Express program. However, Nelson acknowledged that the number of loans approved to minority owned businesses had declined to 10% in 2010 from nearly 20% in 2008 and the loans to startups (businesses in operation for 2 years or less) accounted for only about 25% of the total.

“Owners with good credit and character, feasible business plan, management expertise and commitment, adequate equity investment, sufficient funds to operate, sufficient collateral and ability to pay back loan based on cash flow are some of the things that SBA look for before approving a loan,” said Nelson.

A new program announced by SBA deals with micro loans which are loans of $50,000 or less and directly handled by SBA approved micro lenders. For additional details, visit the SBA website or contact him at robert.nelson@sba.gov.

Sushil Tuli, CEO of Leader Bank, talked about the growth of Leader Bank. Leader Bank now operates 5 centers, has $365 M in assets and employs more than 130 employees, all in Massachusetts. Last year, it was the 7th largest residential lender with more than $1.5B in approved loans. Commercial loans recipients included Century 21, Arlmont Fuel, Comfort Inn, Cambridge Montessori School, Pedro’s, Holiday Inn Express, Gross & Cohen and many others. In 2011, Leader Bank was selected to become one of the participants in the Massachusetts Treasury’s Small Business Banking Partnership program. For further details, visit www.leaderbank.com or contact Sushil Tuli.

|