Building on Success
$ 72.1 Million Available to Enhance West Virginia ’ s Business Ecosystem
wvjit . org
A new round of the State Small Business Credit Initiative ( SSBCI ) will grant $ 72.1 million to expand access to capital and promote entrepreneurship in West Virginia .
“ Since the day I walked in the door as governor , I ’ ve tried to make West Virginia the best state in the nation to chase the American Dream — a place where success and prosperity are right at your fingertips . This is an astounding amount of funding that is going to allow so many of our business owners to achieve that dream ,” says Governor Jim Justice . “ It will also help people in our state who maybe have a great idea but haven ’ t had the capital to turn that idea into a business . By providing a boost to those kinds of people , we will be able to continue our efforts to diversify our economy and move our entire state forward in new and exciting ways . I could not be more thrilled .”
This kind of investment in the Mountain State will have an immense impact on businesses and job creation , and West Virginia was one of the first five states in the country to attain approval from the U . S . Department of the Treasury .
In 2016 , the West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust ( WVJIT ) was entrusted to oversee the first SSBCI — SSBCI 1.0 — grant that included $ 13.1 million . The success of that first round of funding was instrumental in the rapid approval of SSBCI 2.0 .
“ Success of the SSBCI 1.0 — in terms of capital deployment through the West Virginia Capital Access Program ( WVCAP ), meeting the stated and desired outcomes , along with the oversight of the program that materialized in two clean audits by the Office of Inspector General of the U . S . Treasury — was critical to our SSBCI 2.0 application being approved in the first phase by the review committee ,” says Andrew Zulauf , executive director of WVJIT . “ The additional fact that the WVJIT management team was still in place as well as our stakeholder groups — legal , accounting , WVCAP committee and many of the same program participants — was also critical to our successful application .”
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