Sam's blog

Q: I want to start a "minority" business. Are there funding opportunities or loans for minority business?

A: Having a strong business plan is probably the most important thing when securing funding for a small-business, no matter your heritage. However, minority small-business owners sometimes need a little extra help to secure loans and investments, when compared with a non-minority pursuing the same business venture.

Agencies and institutions who are known for servicing minority businesses will offer the most help, since they will be experienced in best addressing your needs. Let's take a look at some of those now.

Here's something that might interest you if you're an entrepreneur trying to raise capital for an idea, project or existing company:

TechColumbus aims to fuel the growth of Central Ohio’s innovation economy by providing vital resources and financial assistance to individuals and enterprises that depend on technology to achieve their business goals.

Director of Economic Development, Dana McDaniel describes her goals: "I want the two guys in their garage that will eventually expand and become the next big win."

There are many ways that entrepreneurs can obtain the capital they need to get their business up and running. Some of these are not too far from home.

As I have written in other blogs, there are various ways to obtain the capital needed to maintain an early stage business and push it to the next step, expansion. These methods including financing through angel investors, venture capitalists, and various methods of debt and equity financing.

Did you know Entrepreneurs are able to obtain an advance against the sales of their future product or service?

At only 14 years of age, the teenager shown in this photo is passionate about guitar.

By Bankrate.com (reprinted from MSN)

If you're still waiting for your economic stimulus payment, it might be in one of the more than 383,000 pieces of mail returned to the Internal Revenue Service.