Flagship Banner Growing Statewide
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAn Anderson-based microloan program is growing its footprint throughout the state. The Flagship Enterprise Center says its lending territory now covers 29 counties with the addition of Monroe, Tippecanoe, Montgomery, Clinton and Brown. Business Development Manager Dirk Webb calls it a "strategic opportunity" that opens the program up to potential student and faculty partners at Indiana University and Purdue University. The center is one of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s most prolific microlenders.
Webb tells Inside INdiana Business the program can help boost a key pool of potential entrepreneurs. "We felt like a lot of those higher-ed programs are the launching pads for some of the great ideas that are flowing out from central Indiana into the nation at large." He adds "For us, it gives us an opportunity to help fuel growth not just in Anderson and Madison County, but the entire central Indiana area."
Last year, the center reports it closed on 83 microloans, which totaled nearly $1.7 million. The center credits itself with more than 80 percent of all SBA microloans in the state during the 2015 fiscal year.
Microlending through Flagship is now available for entrepreneurs in Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Clinton, Decatur, Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Grant, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Jay, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Union and Wayne counties.
Flagship’s microloan program was established in 2010 and has since issued 295 loans, totaling almost $8 million. You can find out more about the program by clicking here.
Flagship Enterprise Center Business Development Manager Dirk Webb tells Inside INdiana Business says the program can help boost a key pool of potential entrepreneurs.