WEBINAR: Growing a Business in Boston - ASK ME ANYTHING

In celebration of Small Business Saturday, November 25th 2017 – the SBA Massachusetts District Office is teaming up with the City of Boston to talk about municipal resources available to new entrepreneurs and existing small business owners to start and expand. 

There will be short presentations on loan programs and technical assistance available, followed by an Ask Me Anything session where the City of Boston representatives will help provide answers to your questions.
Presentations will be delivered on the following City of Boston programs:
 

• Boston Planning & Development Agency Loan Program
  The Boston Local Development Corporation (BLDC) is a private non-profit corporation that utilizes Staff of the Boston Planning and Development Agency and is overseen by an independent Board of Trustees. The principal objective of the BLDC is to make small business loans to benefit the community by fostering increased employment opportunities and expansion of business, industry and services for the citizens of the City of Boston. In the last twenty years, the BLDC has provided over $15 million in small business loans. These loans have successfully leveraged over $85 million in other funding. The BLDC is proud of its extensive collaborations with Boston’s banking community. These loan funds have helped to create or retain over 2,900 Boston jobs. BLDC loans can be in amounts up to $250,000. BLDC proceeds may be used to support the working capital needs of a growing small business (e.g., expanded inventory, salaries and increased accounts receivables) and to fund construction of leasehold improvements. Funds may also be used to purchase new business property, machinery and equipment and to fund additional construction for an existing plant. BLDC loan applicants may include those businesses located in the City of Boston and those businesses seeking to relocate to the City or begin a new enterprise in the City. The borrower may be a Corporation, LLC, Partnership, Sole Proprietor or in some instances, a Realty Trust. 
   

• Neighborhood Business Access Loan Program
  The Office of Economic Development’s Business Capital and Finance Unit provides loans through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block money (CDBG). The key components of this unit are to support economic development through job creation and to revitalize neighborhood commercial districts and properties. This unit will focus on supporting those demographics who historically have more difficulty accessing capital, ideally minority/women/immigrant/veteran owned businesses, as well as supporting the growing sectors of business that have the most potential for job creation to low and moderate income households. These loans are meant to prevent displacement among existing businesses, subsidize economic development in new identified growth areas, and concentrate on businesses with social cause profitability potential. The loans dispersed from this Unit will assist businesses with equipment, startup costs, expansion, and working capital.  Learn more about the Neighborhood Business Access Loan Program
   

• Small Business Assistance 
  The Small Business Development team has the people and tools to help you build your small business in Boston. Through our online resources and in-person services, we connect you with the right people or appropriate city agencies to provide assistance with permitting, licensing and other business challenges you might have.



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About the Speakers:
Bill Nickerson is Senior Finance Manager, Boston Local Development Corporation, Boston Planning & Development Agency 



For over twenty years, Bill has been the Senior Finance Manager of the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) {formerly the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA)}. His role at the agency includes serving as General Manager of the Boston Local Development Corporation (BLDC), the City of Boston’s small business loan fund. In the years Bill has managed the BLDC, its Board of Trustees has approved over $16 million in loans and leveraged more than $85 million in bank financing. These loans created or retained over 3,000 jobs in the City of Boston.

Bill is also the Executive Director of the City of Boston's conduit bond issuer, The Boston Industrial Development Financing Authority (BIFDA). Since its inception in 1972, BIDFA has provided $550 million in bond financing that created/retained 20,000 Boston jobs.  In addition to managing these programs, Bill also provides advice on financial issues to small businesses, internal BPDA and other City Staff. Bill regularly addresses trade and community groups at business and financial education events. He participates in "task forces" targeting specific areas of need within the city, and was a member of Mayor Walsh’s City of Boston Economic Opportunity working Group. This group was formed to reduce economic disparity and increase small business access to capital; especially in Boston’s communities of color. He is a Member of; the Mass. Housing and Investment Corporation’s (MHIC) New Market Tax Credit Advisory Committee, is a member of the Council of Development Finance Agencies’ (CDFA) National Legislative Committee and the Council’s New England Finance Roundtable Advisory Committee. Bill serves on the Massachusetts Community and Banking Council (MCBC) Economic Development Committee, and was a co-author of MCBC’s Greater Boston Area Small Business Financial Resource Guide. Bill had previously served on the UMASS/SBA Small Business Development Center Search Committee, the Washington St. Gateway Main Streets Economic Restructuring Committee and was a member of the Massachusetts Bankers Association Consumer Credit Committee. 
Prior to working for the BPDA, Bill was an Assistant Vice President and Lending Officer at US Trust Co. heading up the bank’s Suffolk County Consumer Lending Department. Bill was educated at Boston Latin School and Columbia University.



John FitzGerald is Director of Capital and Finance, Mayor's Office of Economic Development,  Office of Small Business Development. 



John FitzGerald has worked with the BPDA since 2006, originally as a Project Manager dealing with developments and construction all around the City. He served as the City's Olympic Liaison during the 2024 Olympic Bid, as well as the Deputy Director of Imagine Boston 2030, the City's first citywide plan in over 50 years. Since 2016 John has served as Director of the  Business Capital and Finance for Economic Development. John attended Boston Latin School and attended college at Northeastern as both an undergrad and grad student while getting his Executive MBA. 


Prayas Neupane is Neighborhood Business Manager, Mayor's Office of Economic Development, Office of Small Business Development.  



Prayas leads the City's Food Truck Program. Provides support to entrepreneurs that are considering mobile vending. Identifies the needs of the business and provide one-on-one technical assistance for a wide diversity of businesses. Prayas will share resources and support available to the public for starting a business in the City of Boston.