JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Department of Economic Development today announced the award of a$25,000 low-interest loan to a small business as part of Gov. Jay Nixon’s Missouri Small Business Loan Program.
“The health of Missouri’s small business sector will continue to be crucial to our state’s ongoing economic recovery,” said Gov. Nixon. “I created the Missouri Small Business Loan Program to address the critical need for operating capital that so many businesses face. I am pleased that today we are announcing another business which will use this program to access that capital so it can prosper, create jobs and help grow Missouri’s economy.”
Rode Compliance & Environ¬mental Professionals, an environ¬mental consulting business in Ava, has been approved for a $25,000 small business loan. Rode Compliance will utilize the low-interest, small business loan for working capital and equipment.
Through Gov. Nixon’s Small Business Loan Program, Missouri businesses with five or fewer employees were encouraged to apply for loans between $2,500 and $25,000, with the loans to be repaid over a 10-year term at a low interest rate of three percent. To date, 48 Missouri small businesses have been awarded loans through the program, including today’s announced recipient.
The application process for the Small Business Loan Program is ongoing. Businesses that have not yet applied are still eligible to do so. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply online at http://www.ded.mo.gov/MOloan/index.htm. Those businesses that previously applied are still under consideration for an award and need not apply again.
One of Governor Nixon’s first acts upon taking office was the issuance of Executive Order 09-03, which instructed the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) and the Missouri Development Finance Board (MDFB) to create a tool for giving small businesses access to low-interest loans to help them through challenging economic conditions. The plan was granted final approval and $2 mil¬lion in funding at the MDFB’s regular meeting last April.
