Thursday, Feb 10 2011 10:11AM
A USDA loan will allow small businesses in rural Nevada to thrive.
A federal loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will allow some small businesses in rural sections of Nevada to receive capital even if they have been rejected for bank loans, reported the Reno Gazette Journal.
The Rural Nevada Corporation has been awarded $500,000 from the USDA's Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance program, which the newspaper said will be used to fund loans for small businesses and Indian tribes located outside of Reno, Las Vegas and Carson City.
Businesses must have an annual gross revenue of $1 million or less, have been denied a conventional bank loan and have less than 10 employees to qualify for the government loan, according to the paper. So far, the RNDC has approved four separate loans equaling $100,000.
"Not bad for a week's worth of work," Mary Kerner, the RNDC's lending administrator, told the paper, adding that loans will hopefully spur rural community development. "We're really excited. Our purpose is to make nonbankable businesses bankable."
According to the USDA, grants from the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance program can be used to provide employee training, marketing or development assistance, business planning and other services in order to help sustain independent businesses in outlying communities.