The Business sCOOP – SEED Corporation and Resources for Businesses
Allyson Brainson: Welcome to the Business Scoop I’m Allyson Brainson and I’m here with Angie
Laperriere from Seed. Welcome, Angie!
Angie Laperriere: Thank you so much for having me!
Allyson Brainson: Angie, who is SEED Corporation and how do they differ from a traditional bank and or credit union?
Angie Laperriere: That’s a great question so SEED Corporation stands for Southeastern Economic Development Corporation we are a small business lender in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island providing financing to both startup and existing businesses and we really are here to fill the gap and provide financing to businesses when traditional financing cannot be obtained by a bank or credit union so we’ve been around since 1982 and we’re an economic development agency we have funding from various state and federal grants which allows us to operate and lend to small businesses and we are also an intermediary lender for the small business administration so we’re really not here to compete with the banks or credit unions we’re really here to work as a partner and to provide that gap financing when businesses can’t get the traditional loan or line of credit that they need.
Allyson Brainson: When is it relevant for small business owners to turn to SEED or financing?
Angie Laperriere: That’s also a great question. So we always suggest that when you’re looking for financing as a small business owner the first place to go to would be your local bank or credit union that you have an existing relationship with so after you speak with your lender if you can’t get that traditional financing that’s where a seed really comes in so there’s a number of reasons why the local bank may or may not be able to assist the business and it could be a reason for credit collateral it could be the number of years in business it could be that the industry is maybe an industry that the bank cannot lend to so when you approach a bank and you can’t get that financing you come over to SEED and then we can talk about the process our requirements and what you would need to go through the process to make sure it’s a good fit for everybody.
Allyson Brainson: How the SEED partner and provide gap financing with the bank?
Angie Laperriere: With our partnership with the banks there’s a couple of options as a bank or credit union if you’re not able to provide the financing to the clients then we could potentially take a look at the loan request as a straight referral source for you ultimately we can either provide the full amount of financing potentially if the bank cannot provide it or we can work as a partner so the partnership could be for a business acquisition it could be for real estate transaction perhaps if the real estate purchase is a smaller amount and doesn’t fit under our larger loan programs and we could also just provide gap financing on any type of project with working capital or equipment or any you know really flexible use of funds so ultimately as the lender if you’re not able to provide 100 of the financing the borrower’s looking for we can come in and provide that gap financing and work and provide a loan to fill that gap in a position behind the bank recently Allison and I worked together and there was a small loan that bank was unable to assist it was for a start-up business a business owner was looking for 60,000 to get the business up and running great experience in the industry but because it was a startup and really didn’t have a financial history that’s where seed came into play so we were able to take a look at the loan request for the borrower and provide the full sixty thousand dollar financing request and we’ve already moved forward and closed the loan and the business is just getting started and up and running so that’s a great example of a small one that perhaps maybe the business wouldn’t have wouldn’t have been able to get started if they given that they couldn’t get traditional bank financing at this time but our goal in working with these borrowers to be able to provide them the financing they need to get up and running and then to make them bankable in the future because that’s really where they’re going to have the most beneficial relationship in the long term.
Allyson Brainson: Thank you for joining us today, Angie and thank you for watching the Business Scoop, brought to you by The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod.