Economic Development Collaborative of VC featured at GMSP

“We have consultants with specialties... things are very different for a small business owner” who, Stenslie said, finds it difficult to be a master of all business facets. Appointments are made rapidly, and “generally short-term services” are offered to avoid the creation of dependency, although one-on-one contracts can be entered into outside the agency.Funding for the EDCVC is garnered through cities and other agencies, and consultants are paid “not a huge amount of money” for those with broad business experience as well as those with specific areas of expertise. “Our key consultant has done everything,” from working for major corporations to having his own business serving a statewide clientele.Helping business is important: “Cities are recognizing it’s better to save businesses, and are investing in them as partners.” Stenslie noted the EDCVC also partners with schools and existing businesses on job training programs.The EDCVC lending program is backed by the Department of Commerce, and is “targeted at six industries, very broad,” but not service related, the focus of a planned program. “The beauty of this community-based lending and revolving loan fund usually we make loans,” with a seven-year payoff at “prime or prime plus one... we look for collateral in any number of ways,” and Stenslie said one of the criteria for the loan program is that a business has been unable to secure financing from conventional sources.“We’re not in the business to compete” with lenders, but rather to work with those businesses offering potential employment whose loan needs have been rejected. “We want to create jobs; we want at least one job created for every $25,000 loaned.” The program’s loss ratio, added Stenslie, is less than five percent.