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The Northeast Entrepreneur Fund and the Superior Business Improvement District Make Life Easier for Small Business
John Anderson knows what it’s like to work on a shoestring budget. When he and Kim Anderson started their machining, welding, and emergency repair shop, they were based out of John’s dad’s garage on the South Range. But as they expanded, they realized they needed a bigger community. They packed up the garage and headed north.
“Our business kept growing and we had to move,” says Kim Anderson. “Once we had a customer base, we knew we wanted to be in Superior.”
The Andersons moved Worldwide Machining and Welding, Inc. to the east side of Superior and it wasn’t long before they felt the growing pains again and started looking for a bigger facility. This is where the Superior community stepped in to help.
“We were able to meet the funding requirements for a loan, but what we did need was gap funding,” says Anderson. “That’s where Northeast Entrepreneur Fund was able to help.”
The Iron Range-based fund is dedicated to promoting start-ups, and they were eager to help. John and Kim appealed to the organization, which provided the gap funding the Andersons needed to move and expand.
“If they hadn’t stepped up with their funding we probably wouldn’t have been able to buy our location and triple our sales,” says Anderson.
Now, Worldwide Machine and Welding, Inc., has grown from one full time employee to twenty-eight and their services reach to a 90-mile radius of Superior, even extending to some work in Canada.
The Northeast Entrepreneur Fund is available to assist with start up, stabilization, and growth. They will review a company’s business plan, join them in approaching the bank, make connections with other lenders, and be there with advice and expertise along the way. Other organizations such as the Superior Business Improvement District are also ready to assist and welcome new businesses into the community.
“SBID connects businesses with the entities that can best help them since they do not have the finances to do so themselves,” says Executive Director Kaye Tenerelli.
Although the Superior Business Improvement District’s main focus is servicing property owners, they will help fill in the missing pieces to create and maintain a successful business. These services range from providing a secretary to leasing space or making references to financial lenders and consultants. Meanwhile, the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund will supply gap financing, provide consulting, and connect the business owner with the resources they need to maintain growth.
“We share information, which means that when you’re starting a business you don’t have to go to eight people, just one,” says Shawn Wellnitz, Executive Director at the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund. “We’ll connect you to the resources.”
Superior is replete with resources to assist new and growing businesses both in the areas of financing and development.
“Superior has been very workable with us,” says Anderson. “They made it very easy. It is overwhelming when you are trying to run and move a business and it was wonderful that they were that capable.”
Superior goes even further in their support of businesses by seeking to recognize them for their success and efforts in joining what Wellnitz praises as the “supportive, tight-knit community.”
Superior is ripe with opportunities and hands-on resources to welcome and support small businesses. In this rebounding economy, it’s nice to know that in Superior, help is there.
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