The help is available for new and existing businesses.
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer

PARIS – A small business lending program in Oxford County that had become inactive the past year for lack of funding is back in business, thanks to $200,000 recently received from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

That news will be especially welcome to new and existing small businesses that wouldn’t otherwise qualify for a bank loan, because the amount they need is so small or they don’t qualify for conventional bank financing, said Neil Elder, director of the Micro Enterprise Center of Community Concepts Inc.

“We specialize in loans under $10,000,” although guidelines allow for loans as low as $500 and as much as $35,000, he said.

CCI’s Micro Enterprise Center has been around since 1983, well before the formation of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills.

“We’ve been pretty much out of money for a year,” said Elder, because of delays in the passage of the federal budget.

Matching funds

In order to receive the SBA money, the center needed to come up with 15 percent in matching funds, or $30,000. This was done “thanks to the support of our local banks,” which each gave a gift of $5,000. The money from Androscoggin Savings Bank, Key Bank, Northeast Bank, Norway Savings Bank and Oxford Bank & Trust was matched by $5,000 of CCI’s money, he said.

The micro enterprise loan process is “a little less demanding on credit issues,” he said. And Elder said most banks won’t touch small loans like the $850 the center recently lent a man to buy a couple of lawnmowers and a weed whacker for his landscaping business.

Potential loan clients, either those established in business or seeking to begin one, need to have a solid business plan to qualify for a micro enterprise loan, he said. Clients are encouraged to attend business planning workshops, either the ones offered by the Service Corps of Retired Executives or through EnterpriseMaine.

“We won’t write the plan up for you,” he said. “It’s important, in fact critical that you do the work as a borrower. You do a business plan, not to satisfy me or the banker. It’s your road map. You should be using it all the time.”

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Once a business is up and running, the Micro Enterprise Center also helps by going over with the client such issues as proper bookkeeping and whether the business is reaching the right market.

Elder, who was a loan officer at Oxford Bank & Trust for 23 years, said he enjoys this position that he’s had for three years because “It’s much more hands-on. You can spend more time with the client, one-on-one, much more than I used to.”

Elder has served on the loan committee of the Growth Council since its formation, and is the new chairman of the local SCORE chapter in Paris. “Sometimes I have to think about what hat I’m wearing,” he joked.

Many times, he said, loan packages are put together by combining Growth Council loans with micro enterprise lending, and with SCORE volunteers helping with advice.

For now, Elder wants to get the message out that the micro loan program at Community Concepts is alive and well, and it’s available to help those who have always wanted to own their own business.

People may phone 795-4065, 743-7716, or 364-3721 and ask for the Micro Enterprise Department.

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