Small-business loans available Thursday


A group of community activist groups will hold the second in a series of small-business forums Thursday night at the Vance County Senior Center on Garnett Street.

The topic for the 6 p.m. session will be small-business financing. Entrepreneurs who come prepared can apply for loans of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 before leaving the Senior Center.

The Small Office-Home Office Financing Workshop is sponsored by the Vance County Coalition Against Violence, Team Vance, the Gateway Community Development Corp., Greater Little Zion Holiness Church, the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Center of Vance-Granville Community College, and the Small Business Administration-backed Women’s Business Center of North Carolina, a program of Andrea Harris’ North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development.

The same groups sponsored a forum on small-business opportunities at the Senior Center on March 12. About 60 people who own businesses or are considering entrepreneurship turned out for information and motivation that Saturday morning. The turnout at least doubles organizers’ expectations.

That initial forum laid the groundwork. For those ready to make the jump into business ownership, Thursday’s forum will provide a path to financing.

The SOHO loan program provides money to buy equipment and inventory, hire employees, expand, or help run daily operations.

According to information provided by Marolyn Rasheed of Team Vance, the SOHO program makes more than 5,000 loans nationwide in a year.

SOHO loans use a one-page application and require no collateral, no tax returns, and no other personal or business financial records. You need to bring a copy of your driver’s license, your Social Security number or your business’s federal tax ID number, and a check from a business checking account.

Loan approvals take as little as 25 days.

To register for Thursday’s free session, call 492-6298. The small-business forum will take the place of the weekly meeting of the Coalition Against Violence at the Gateway Center.