State Small Business Credit Initiative Program
South Carolina was awarded $18 million of $1.5 billion made available through the nationwide State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) to create a capital access program to be known as SC SSBCI CAP.
The program will make the funds available to participating financial institutions to increase credit availability for qualifying credit-worthy small businesses.
The funding originated with the Small Business Jobs Act passed by Congress and signed by President Obama on Sept. 27, 2010. The U.S. Treasury Department is administering the federal program.
States are required to show a reasonable expectation that $10 in new private lending will result from every $1 in federal funding. The capital access program in South Carolina, therefore, is expected to generate at least $180 million in small business lending.
The South Carolina Legislature has passed a joint resolution authorizing the S.C. Jobs-Economic Development Authority (JEDA) to receive and distribute the funds. The South Carolina Bankers Association (SCBA) was instrumental in getting this resolution through both the Senate and the House and will help introduce the product to its members for their participation which is vital to its success.
JEDA will work with the Business Development Corporation (BDC) of South Carolina to implement and administer the capital access program, SC SSBCI CAP.
The BDC will take a lead role in working with the state’s banking industry, whose participation is essential to the program’s success.
The State Senate introduced the resolution where it was passed under the leadership of the chief sponsors, John Land of Manning, Nikki Setzler of West Columbia, Hugh Leatherman of Florence and Darrell Jackson of Hopkins. The Joint Resolution was then passed overwhelmingly by the House, where the leadership of Rep. Steve Moss of Blacksburg was critical to its success. Gov. Nikki Haley then signed it into law. JEDA also credits Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt and Attorney General Alan Wilson for their work on the resolution.
For more information about the SSBCI program, contact BDC at www.businessdevelopment.org or call (803) 798-4064.
