Certified Development Corporation of South Carolina (CDC) will be able to assist far more business owners to obtain financing through the U.S. Small Business Administration with its expansion into 14 counties in North Carolina and Georgia.
Columbia-based CDC was already offering SBA 504 loans to some of these areas through the SBA’s Rural Initiative Pilot Program. The Local Economic Area (LEA) expansion recently granted to CDC by SBA opens up larger markets that include Charlotte and Wilmington, North Carolina, and Augusta, Georgia.
CDC is associated with Business Development Corporation, a non-bank commercial lending company specializing in the SBA’s 7(a) loan guaranty program and the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI).
“We’re excited that we can better serve the small business community in these areas by providing attractive financing through SBA-backed loans,” said BDC President and CEO Peter Shand.
The five counties in Georgia granted to CDC are Burke, Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie and Richmond. The nine North Carolina counties are Anson, Brunswick, Cabarrus, Gaston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Rowan and Union.
“The opening up of these service areas – especially the dynamic markets where we had historically not been able to make loans- creates new opportunities for CDC and our lending partners, but most importantly, to the small business communities in those areas in which we’re expanding,” said Shand.
