The Connecticut Small Business Boost Fund offers flexible, low-interest loans and free business support services to small business owners seeking working capital. Supported by the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development with a focus on business owners in historically underbanked communities, the Fund has already distributed$23 million in loans to more than 190 Connecticut small businesses and nonprofits.
One of those business owners is Chaquanzha Stephenson, whose story illustrates just how important a flexible, low-interest loan can be to a small business in need.
In 2021, Stephenson left a career in HR and launched Point Transportation and Logistics out of Milford, operating a single flatbed vehicle that hauled lumber, heavy machinery, steel, bricks — “things that make the world go round,” as she explains it.
After a successful first year, Stephenson decided to scale the company and add a second commercial vehicle to her fleet. Unfortunately, the truck was a lemon: It cost over $30,000 in out-of-pocket repairs, and it meant that she wasn’t bringing in the revenue that she had projected.
It was around that time that Stephenson applied for her first business loan, which got her capital quickly but came with a high interest rate and a lien on her company.
“I needed the loan because we were in a crisis,” she says, “and I didn’t realize how much interest was on it.”
That’s when Stephenson turned to the Connecticut Small Business Boost Fund. Following the application process, she was paired with a community lender and business advisor through the Fund. They worked with her to create financial projections and organize her documents so she could finally take on the right loan to get Point back up and running.
Now she’s looking ahead to the future with plans to increase her workforce and broaden her reach, and she hopes her business can generate some generational wealth that she can eventually pass down.
“The Connecticut Small Business Boost Fund was truly a blessing. It turned this negative situation into something great,” Stephenson says. “I can’t stress enough how grateful I am, just being able to sleep at night. Without it, I wouldn’t have a business right now. They were able to put the pieces back together and give me hope.
$125 million in loans is still available to Connecticut-based businesses and nonprofits that have been in business for at least a year, have no more than 100 employees and have annual revenues of less than $8 million are eligible to receive loans of up to $500,000 at a fixed interest rate of 4.5%.
Learn more at CTSmallBusinessBoostFund.org.