For Immediate Release

October 27, 2003

Small Business Loans Available for Local Entrepreneurs

Washington, NC – Metropolitan Business Development Center is partnering with the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center to offer local entrepreneurs loans of up to $25,000 to start or expand a small business through the center’s Microenterprise Loan Program. The nationally acclaimed loan program provides promising entrepreneurs the funding they need to get a new venture off the ground and to grow existing small businesses. The program also offers sound, practical guidance to help make these burgeoning enterprises a success.  

Loans ranging from $1,500 to $25,000 are available to entrepreneurs who likely would not qualify for traditional bank credit otherwise, with an emphasis on female and minority borrowers. Preference is given to loans originating in rural and low-income areas. To be eligible, applicants must be permanent residents of North Carolina, be at least 18 years of age, and should have some level of prior business experience. Entrepreneurs with established businesses should have no more than 10 full-time employees.

Since its creation in 1989, the Microenterprise Loan Program has invested more than $5.2 million in a wide variety of small businesses throughout North Carolina, everything from catering companies to automotive repair shops to home health care organizations. To date, more than 1,000 small business owners have borrowed money from the program, which is available in all 85 rural counties of North Carolina. The program is now the sixth largest of its kind in the country and has received several significant recognitions, including the first Presidential Award for Excellence in Microenterprise Development in 1995 and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Vision 2000 Award in 1999.

The N.C. Rural Economic Development Center is a private, non-profit organization whose mission is to develop sound economic strategies that improve the quality of life in rural North Carolina, with a special focus on individuals with low to moderate incomes and communities with limited resources.

The Business Development Center is a part of Metropolitan Housing and CDC Inc. Metropolitan’s mission is to improve the quality of life for low-income persons through systematic and sustainable community development efforts. Metropolitan has helped create over 130 jobs and start or expand over 40 new businesses in the last three years.

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To receive an application, contact Metropolitan at info@MetropolitanCommunity.org or call Ann Cherry at (252) 946-7950. To learn more about the Microenterprise Loan Program, contact the Rural Center at (919) 250-4314, or visit the center’s website at www.ncruralcenter.org.