More than 500 Austin area entrepreneurs recently poured into the Palmer Events Center¡¯s Exhibition Hall II to learn everything they needed to know about getting commercial loans to start, build and expand their businesses.

The third annual Meet the Lender loan fair, hosted by the City of Austin¡¯s Small Business Development Program (SBDP) on August 11, 2006, drew an enthusiastic crowd of aspiring and established business owners seeking pertinent information from the community¡®s leading lending institutions. The event has seen a marked increase in attendance each year since it began in 2004.

The theme of this year¡®s forum ¨C Your idea is the seed. Let us help you plant it. ¨C reflects SBDP¡®s core mission. The city division, which is part of the Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office, serves as a portal of important information and local resources to help small businesses grow and succeed.

Key to launching or expanding a business is the ability to obtain sufficient financing. The problem is that too many entrepreneurs don¡®t know how to go about finding the necessary investment capital for a start-up business. Their needs and questions can run the financial gamut. They don¡®t know which institutions offer business loans, how to qualify or what happens should they default on a loan.

As intended, the Meet the Lender event provided answers to these and many other questions entrepreneurs posed to 43 lenders and exhibitors during the six-hour loan forum. Feedback from these business owners was very positive, and included that 92% of respondents indicating that they were satisfied with the quality of the event and an incredible 98% of respondents saying they would recommend Meet the Lender to others.

The fair also offered breakout sessions on two specific topics ¨C "Getting Your Financials Ready," presented by former Council Member and local CPA Ronney Reynolds of Reynolds and Dowling, P.C., and "Understanding the Loan Process," presented by Mary Alice Blanco and Cindy Solano of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Both topics were very well received by the participants, including over 84% of those queried responding that they would recommend "Getting Your Financials Ready" to other business owners and 85% of small business owners saying they would recommend "Understanding the Loan Process" to other entrepreneurs.

Answers to the question "what was the most helpful learning experience?" yielded an expansive variety of answers. Some of the positive responses include "the composite of available lenders and the organizational structure they were put in" and "the representative openly listening to my ideas and giving great advice." The majority of responses are extremely positive and give direction for future Meet the Lender events.

Numerous Austin companies helped sponsor the event with generous donations, thus helping SBDP give the small business community one more opportunity to thrive in today¡®s competitive business market. The major sponsors were Capital Metro Transit, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and LAT TV, Channel 17.

Media sponsors for the event were radio stations KLBJ-FM, KFMK-FM, KFMA-FM, KAZI-FM, and KJCE-FM. Several locally-owned restaurants that provided support for the fair included El Sol y La Luna, Zax Pints & Plates, Suzi¡®s China Kitchen, Super Burrito and Nuevo Leon.

The City of Austin Small Business Development Program is committed to helping Austin entrepreneurs to access the information and resources they need to "Help Business Grow." For more information on the Small Business Development Program¡®s services and resources, please call 512.974.7800 or visit www.cityofaustin.org/sbdp. ¡ö