MANISTEE COUNTY — This week, two entities announced they are partnering up to make loans available to small businesses in Manistee County.
Tim Ervin, Venture North resource development and communications adviser, said most of the businesses the nonprofit works with have under 10 employees.
“There’s not a lot being done to help the really small businesses that frankly make up the economic engine of northern Michigan — aside from this kind of a program that is very deliberate about not only wanting wanting to assist businesses but assist communities and make a difference as a result,” Ervin said.
He said that money is specifically available for small businesses in Manistee County, which is a somewhat new focus for Venture North, which had previously focused on Grand Traverse, Benzie and Leelanau counties in the past.
“But as it has grown, it has appropriately spread its wings to serve the whole 10-county region,” Ervin said. “And Manistee is one of those really important counties that Venture North is only now, really, reaching. A part of that is made possible by the award of the $250,000 from the community foundation to Venture North.”
A news release from Venture North on the money being awarded states that Venture North gives priority to small businesses in areas with economic challenges in its 10-county area for the loan program.
The 10 counties it serves are Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Manistee, Missaukee and Wexford.
“What we’re really all about is not only the success and prosperity of small businesses, but it’s what they provide, which is jobs and income and revenues,” Ervin said. “We’re as much about community building as we are about supporting small businesses because they really go hand in hand.”
Part of that endeavor includes what the news release calls “impact investments” and “leveraging.” Impact investments are made with the intention of generating both a financial and social return.
“It’s kind of a new approach to philanthropy,” Ervin said. “A philanthropic organization oftentimes has the intent of looking up people and organizations that are in areas of economic distress and so what they do is impact investment with us — which is basically in this case providing $250,000 to enable us to more aggressively provide very affordable loans.”
The foundation “recently launched an impact investing program aimed at expanding its positive impact on the Manistee County community by investing a portion of its assets locally rather than in its traditional portfolio,” the news release said.
Laura Heintzelman, foundation president and chief executive officer, said in the release that Venture North’s mission to lift small businesses and areas that need help the most, “is also a great match with our philanthropic goals involving the well-being of (the) Manistee County community.”
“We hope businesses throughout the county will connect with Venture North to see how their growth plans will benefit from our investment,” Heintzelman said.
The awarded money for the loans would then potentially bring in additional money through “leveraging” to not only use the awarded amount, but also bring in other financial institutions.
“The concept of leverage is really important, actually,” Ervin said. “What we would hope to do is not just do affordable loans directly from Venture North to a small business, but to also bring some other financial institutions along with us so that it’s not just Venture North, but it’s also Venture North plus say a local bank, a regional bank that has collaborated to provide loan capital to a business.”
According to the news release, Venture North was created 15 years ago. Since then, it has “made 160 affordable loans amounting to $9.5 million while leveraging an additional $32 million that has created 495 new jobs…”
It has awarded 350 small grants totaling $1.2 million and consulted 1,500 businesses, the release notes.
How to apply
Ervin said it can be difficult for new businesses to find funding to get started. Many also may be lacking business plans. He said Venture North works with clients to develop those plans and find funding.
“We are very, very flexible. We are open to ideas,” he said. “We want to hear about people’s dreams, and in many cases, people have come to us with their dreams.”
Laura Galbraith, Venture North president, said in the news release that the nonprofit “… will deploy this funding in the form of affordable loans to small Manistee County businesses.”
“Our loans have terms that match the cashflow of the business client and can be used for purposes and in amounts that are often not supported with lending from other sources,” Galbraith said. “Our experience is that we are often able to leverage our lending by two times or more to spread the benefits even wider to our clients.”
Ervin said there is no set timeline of when the loans will be available or when people would need to apply.
“Our mission is to provide capital and ways for a business to grow so they do not fail,” he said.
Anyone interested in seeking a loan from Venture North is encouraged to call 231-995-7115 or email info@venturenorthfunding.org and fill out an intake form. More information is also available online at venturenorthfunding.org.
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