Ohio sees record loan results

11/29/2011

The Small Business Administration backed nearly 62,000 loans totaling $30.5 billion during the 2011 fiscal year - both record numbers for the agency, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

In Ohio, the state's SBA District Office reported a total of 3,200 loans were dispersed, allowing state business owners to gain access to $750 million in capital. A positive change that Douglas C. Sweazy, business-development supervisor for the SBA's Columbus District Office, attributes to a "major shift (among businesses) into growing, expanding, for future opportunities - or current opportunities."

In order to achieve expansion, businesses must go through the process of getting an SBA loan. Sweazy explains to the media outlet that owners really need to do their homework so they can competently explain how they run their business and the process through which they will pay the agency back. The owner should also have some sales ability to convince loan officers that they really know their industry and can perform as promised.

Elsewhere in the state, the SBA's Cleveland district doled out $363 million in SBA loans during the most recent fiscal year - a 66 percent increase from 2010.