Windsor Advantage Presents to South Carolina Lenders on SBA Rural Development Strategies
Staff Report From South Carolina CEO
Thursday, February 28th, 2019
Windsor Advantage, the nation's leading provider of SBA and USDA lending solutions to community banks, credit unions and CDFIs, recently had the privilege of speaking during a lender roundtable hosted by the Small Business Administration (SBA) District Office of South Carolina. The engagement was held in Williamsburg County earlier this month and covered a variety of topics, including growth strategies through outsourcing to a Lender Service Provider (LSP) and reviewing best practices for identifying eligible SBA loan opportunities in rural markets.
Williamsburg County Economic Development staff and government guaranteed Lender Relation Specialists assembled a diverse group of small-business lenders, advocacy groups, LSPs and CDCs to discuss the various programs that exist to help drive economic growth within rural communities. Windsor's presenters included President & CEO, Mike Breckheimer, an industry leading expert who has helped lenders fund more than $1.0 billion in SBA 7(a) and USDA loans during his tenure at the company, and Andrew Sheaffer, Vice President of Business Development, a recognized industry leader for having SBA content marketing strategies featured in Forbes earlier this year.
According to the SBA's Strategic Plan through FY2022, small-businesses in rural and urban parts of America do not have the same level of access to capital, primarily as a result of limited access to lenders, information and resources. In an effort to promote growth, the agency has set forth a goal to increase the number of loans in rural areas by 5% from the FY2017 baseline prior to September 30, 2019. "In today's highly competitive marketplace, lenders should constantly be thinking of ways to connect with more small-business borrowers and expanding to rural areas can help meet this objective," said Breckheimer of Windsor Advantage. "There are an estimated 14,000 small-businesses that operate in South Carolina rural counties and it's our goal to partner with local lenders to analyze volume indicators and industry outliers to help increase loan prospecting success in rural markets."
Since 2010, Windsor has closed over $130 million in SBA 7(a) and USDA loans for borrowers in South Carolina.