Some say that the summer is a time in Northern New England when things slow down, but a slowdown was not on the minds of Vermont’s entrepreneurs this year. As Community Capital works to close multiple loans with businesses in a wide variety of industries, it seems that every quarter we welcome back existing or former borrowers who want to expand their businesses, as well as new businesses with whom we now have the privilege of working. Either way, it is a lot of fun for me to meet them, hear their stories, and learn how we can (or previously have) support them.
Of course, working with businesses extends well beyond the actual loan. As I hope most of you know, we offer Business Advisory Services to support business-borrowers long after they receive funding. It is also increasingly important that we know how our businesses are doing long-term, by the numbers. That’s why we’ve instituted a “Borrower Success Survey,” which debuted this year, and which has given us some descriptive stats that I want to share here.
Community Capital Borrowers:
- Created 40 full-time and 51 part-time positions in 2017
- Averaged just under $188K in annual revenue in 2017, with an average increase of nearly $54K in revenue year-over-year from 2016
- Forty-five percent of our borrowers were start-ups, and they used funds for a variety of activities, including equipment purchases (50%) and fit-up (24%), as well as to launch new product lines, purchase inventory, and navigate shifts in their respective markets.
As we rocket toward the end of 2018, we continue to thank all of our partners and stakeholders for your support, but most importantly, we thank our businesses as they continue to forge ahead, pursuing their dreams while doing the truly difficult work of building Vermont’s small business economy.
