Bear Paw recertified as micro business lender

Havre Daily News staff

A local economic development corporation is urging small businesses to look into getting some financial help with low-interest loans.

Bear Paw Development Corp. announced the state of Montana has recertified Bear Paw as a MicroBusiness Development Corporation — MBDC — for the region it serves in northern Montana.  Bear Paw Development has served as an MBDC since the creation of the program in the early 1990s, it said in a press release. 

The program allows Bear Paw to access funds through the state that are lent to them and then re-lent to entrepreneurs who want to start or expand a small business.Businesses can participate in Bear Paw’s MicroBusiness Lending Program if they have fewer than 10 employees and gross annual revenues of less than $1 million. 

“Our MicroBusiness Lending Program has been a staple of the financing services we provide to our region’s entrepreneurial community to help them grow and prosper,” Tiffany Melby, Bear Paw’s director of loan services, said in a press release. “Economic development and business growth in rural Montana is most often achieved by the creation of jobs one, two and thee at a time.  As a certified microlender for the state of Montana, we work with the smallest of companies, including entrepreneurs just starting out, and help them to achieve their goals, which typically include financing a great idea they have that may not be able to be financed elsewhere.”   

  Paul Tuss, executive director of Bear Paw Development, said in the release that since the creation of the organization’s Loan Department in 1988, it has approved more than 350 loans with a combined value of over $27 million to area businesses, with another $28 million leveraged from other sources. This activity helped to create or save 1,645 jobs, he added. 

“While this business lending activity represents all of our various loan funds, our MicroBusiness Lending Program is an important part of that effort and is tailor-made for our area’s smallest enterprises,” Tuss said.

Melby said Bear Paw Development also has funds available to lend to the region’s business community. 

“For business owners or entrepreneurs who have a desire to start or expand a business in our area, we would welcome the opportunity to see if we can help with their financing needs,” she said. 

Bear Paw Development can be reached by phoning 265-9226.

Bear Paw Development Corp. is a federal Economic Development District and a state Certified Regional Development Corporation and works in Liberty, Hill, Blaine, Phillips and Chouteau counties and on the Rocky Boy’s and Fort Belknap Indian reservations.