Seminar on SBA Loans Draws Many Community Members

By: Orrin Pharmin

Service Director/Business Advisor

(CNMI SBDC)

The recent business seminar entitled, “Funding Your Business through a SBA Loan” drew a number of participants who were looking for ways to start, expand, or grow their business.

The seminar was hosted by the Department of Commerce’s CNMI Small Business Development Center (SBDC) through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Guam Branch. The seminar was also held in partnership with the Northern Marianas College (NMC) with the support of the Commonwealth Development Authority (CDA), CNMI Department of Commerce, and the Let's MOVE! Marianas Alliance.

SBA Guam Branch Manger, Kenneth Lujan, is seen
 in the photo above conducting the SBA
workshop at the Northern Marianas College. 

“We were pleased with the turn out of the seminar and are glad that more and more people are taking advantage of these educational seminars that are free to the public,” said Orrin Pharmin, CNMI SBDC Director. “We will continue to work with our partners like NMC and CDA to increase the number of offerings we have for our small businesses.”

The presenter of the seminar, Kenneth Lujan, Guam SBA Branch Manager, talked about starting up or expanding businesses recovering from disasters, loan programs, and other programs to help businesses. “With CNMI’s emerging economy, there would be a need for alternative avenues of obtaining capital.  SBA’s loan programs would be a viable source that would help start-up and expanding businesses meet their financial needs.  Understanding where to find the funds and how each program works would be beneficial to the small business concern,” said Lujan.

For more information on the CNMI SBDC, please contact their office at 670-664-4081 or visit www.pacificsbdc.com.