Murfreesboro Launches Microloan Program for Small Businesses
Murfreesboro officials have begun a microloan program in which the city makes small loans to aspiring entrepreneurs in order to help create jobs through small businesses.
With money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program, the fund will provide approved applicants with allocations to expand, improve or create small businesses that might not be eligible for traditional commercial financing.
The program is a partnership with Middle Tennessee State University's Jennings A. Jones College of Business and the Tennessee Small Business Development Center.
The center's role in the process will include working with borrowers initially to help them understand the loan process and to assist them with the implementation of the loans after the city issues them. MTSU's business center will sort through the loan applications and decide who gets the money. Preference will be given to proposals that create new jobs.
Dr. Patrick Geho, state executive director of the center and associate professor of business communication and entrepreneurship, says applicants must express a desire to hire low-income individuals who can achieve a greater income status.
The $150,000 loan fund will come out of flexible grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
