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Small Business Loan Program Begins On Tuesday

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Small businesses all over the state of Utah can apply for this loan program that can help them get through the challenges of the Cornavirus pandemic.

Businesses in Utah are under stress because of the uncertainty the coronavirus pandemic has caused.Over the past two weeks the Department of Workforce Services has been working on a project to help businesses here in Utah.

On Monday, Val Hale, the Executive Director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, announced the Utah Leads Together Small Business Bridge Loan Program that businesses will be able to start applying for on Tuesday.

According to Hale, "this program offers bridge loans to Utah based small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. Then these businesses obviously been impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. The bridge loan program will use approximately $8 million in repurpose state economic development funds. And we hope to add add more funds in the future. We will use a minimum of 25% of the funds for rural Utah businesses.”

Hale said that loan amounts with this program will range from $5,000 to $20,000 with zero percent interest for up to a 16-month period.  These loans cannot exceed three months of demonstrated operating expenses.

“And the first funding tranche ends Friday, April 3 at noon," said Hale. "And then we will open up applications again the following week for the second tranche. So that's the information we have about this program. It's designed to help small businesses hopefully bridge to the funding that will come through the SBA.”

In the first tranche, nonprofit organizations do not qualify for these loans but Hale says they might be considered in future rounds.

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