
{"id":3780,"date":"2008-11-06T06:56:29","date_gmt":"2008-11-06T14:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=3780"},"modified":"2008-11-06T06:56:29","modified_gmt":"2008-11-06T14:56:29","slug":"business-brief-financial-options-for-local-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/11\/06\/business-brief-financial-options-for-local-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Business brief: Financial options for local businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Small businesses are feeling the economic slowdown just as much as the rest of us. To help them learn more about financial options, Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Office of Economic Development invited loan officers from Durham-based Square 1 Bank and Chapel Hill-based Harrington Bank to address the Carrboro Business Association on Thursday, Oct. 30. Representatives of the Small Business Technology Development Center and U.S. Small Business Administration also were on hand.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m definitely aware of the economy and the downturn since the products we carry are non-necessities,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Sara Gress, owner of the N.C. Crafts Gallery at 212 W. Main Street, Carrboro. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not looking for financing right now, but I want to keep my options open. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to know what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s available to keep us going during lean times.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Patrick Scheper, associate vice president of venture banking for RTP-based Square 1 Bank, said Gress is doing the right thing. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to be clear about expectations,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. Square 1 serves primarily technology or life-sciences companies that have received or are about to receive venture investment. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We play alongside venture capitalists,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Scheper said. Working with start-ups is a little riskier than most banks would like, but the presence of venture investment provides more stability than working with an unfunded, bootstrapped business.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Harrington Bank has a broader client base, providing commercial banking services to a range of business types, including construction companies, retail businesses and small enterprises. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Commercial banks like us have a hard time making loans to start-up businesses,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Jim Evans, assistant vice president and commercial loan officer at Harrington. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re lending your money, we have to be the most conservative with our credit standards.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Businesses need operating capital, said Ron Ilinitch, SBTDC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s regional director. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Self-Help Credit Union is a good resource,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So is the Small Business Association.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>The Economic Development Office has a list of local small business lenders, in addition to its own revolving loan fund. For more information, contact James Harris, director, at 918-7319.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Small businesses are feeling the economic slowdown just as much as the rest of us. To help them learn more about financial options, Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Office of Economic Development invited loan officers from Durham-based Square 1 Bank and Chapel Hill-based Harrington Bank to address the Carrboro Business Association on Thursday, Oct. 30. Representatives of the Small&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellany"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3781,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780\/revisions\/3781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}