At our November Board of Directors meeting, a number of Southwest Initiative Foundation staff who support business development and entrepreneurship provided an update on our microloan program, including its business education and technical assistance. Once again, the board and I were amazed by the impact of just this one piece of SWIF’s work.
Our microloan program is one tool that we use to support small businesses and entrepreneurs. This program helps bring important dollars into our region, leveraging SWIF’s resources and expertise, and provides much-needed financial and technical assistance to businesses throughout southwest Minnesota.
Since we started this program in 2001, we’ve made loans totaling more than $3 million to 221 businesses. Through all of our loan programs combined, we’ve supported more than 580 businesses with more than $35 million in loans, which have created or retained more than 7,700 jobs. From keeping Main Street stores going to building new manufacturing companies to starting up new service providers—SWIF has helped many businesses, and in turn communities, through microloans and other economic development efforts.
Take three minutes to hear what our microloan clients say about their experiences with us.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik6zZtLGiKg&list=UUsf9GAG5XbYDLwHj82dT3pA&index=7 [/youtube]
