SBA recognizes top lenders in Central Mass.
Photo | Courtesy of Avidia Bank
Avidia Bank in Framingham
Two Central Massachusetts lenders won top state honors from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Avidia Bank earned Massachusetts Lender of the Year to Construction. The Hudson-based lender approved the highest percentage of loans to manufacturers, the SBA said.
SBA District Director Robert Nelson said manufacturing drives the region’s economy with 10% of the total economic output. Avidia Bank provides resources vital to growing the manufacturing sector, he said.
As an SBA designated Preferred Lenders Program lender, Avidia allows local small businesses to have quick access to funds to start, expand or acquire a business, as well as those businesses otherwise having difficulty getting approved outside of the SBA application process, Avidia said.
St. Mary’s Credit Union, based in Marlborough, was named Massachusetts Credit Union of the Year. The SBA said it is the only credit union in the state to make the Top 10 most active SBA Lender list with 29 loans this year.
Collectively, including 7(a) SBA loan guarantees, provided to lenders to make them more willing to lend money to small businesses with weaknesses in their loan applications, and 504 loans, which can be used in a variety of ways to update, expand, or improve a small business, and micro loans, the SBA supported capital to 1,971 small businesses for $722 million in the Bay State in 2019, Nelson said.
Together with more than 135 different lenders using SBA loan programs, 6,000 jobs were created and 7,600 were retained, according to self-reported SBA figures.
The awards were given at the SBA’s annual meeting held in November at Clark University in Worcester, celebrating 40 years of service by the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center network, which is based at the school.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments