Small Business Grants in Mississippi

Equity, not a grant. InvestMS buys a stake in your company. Checks run from $50,000 to $1 million. The program holds $11 million. You need a lead investor first, putting in at least $50,000. InvestMS matches private money one for one. Larger deals can reach $3 million, with an SSBCI match of up to $1 million.

Free help, not money. ConnectMS covers all 82 Mississippi counties through eight regional clusters. Partners include Innovate Mississippi, the Mississippi SBDC and MDA. You fill in one intake form. An advisor then gets in touch. It also runs events and a resource directory.

The money goes to lenders, not to businesses. MDA has put $45 million behind community development financial institutions under SSBCI. Those lenders then lend to Mississippi small businesses. It is a loan. Culleywood Capital, Renaissance Community Loan Fund and Hope Enterprise Corporation are on the list. You apply to a CDFI, not to the state.

A loan guarantee, not a grant. You borrow from a bank. MDA backs part of the bank's risk. Loans run from $50,000 up to $500,000, or half the project cost, whichever is less. The guarantee covers up to 80 percent on fixed assets and up to 50 percent on working capital. The state put $15 million behind this under SSBCI.

This is a loan, not a grant. MDA lends to minority owned and women owned businesses. You must be certified first. MDA's Minority and Small Business Development Division does that. Manufacturers, warehouses, distribution centers and retailers can apply. The money can go on land, a building, a renovation, machinery, equipment or working capital. The cap is $250,000, or half the project cost, whichever is lower. One owner test catches people out. Your net worth cannot top $500,000, after you take out your home and your stake in the business.

A loan, not a grant. The cap is $35,000. Manufacturers, warehouses, distribution centers and retail businesses may apply. Money can cover inventory, working capital, machinery and equipment. The rate runs four points above the Federal Reserve discount rate. Terms reach seven years.

Money goes to venture capital funds, not to businesses. Innovate Mississippi puts $1 million to $5 million into a fund as a limited partner. The fund must match that with private capital, one for one. The whole program holds $15 million. A founder cannot apply here. You would raise from a fund that took this money.

A zero percent loan, and the public contract you already hold is the collateral. MDA lends up to 75 percent of the contract or $75,000, whichever is smaller, to cover costs on a public building job. The interest rate is zero. You can take three of these in all, and no more. It is open to small firms, small disadvantaged firms and minority or women owned firms, as set out in section 8(d) of the federal Small Business Act. You need the signed public contract before you start. MDA's fact sheet for this one is dated April 2015, so check the terms still stand.

You do not apply to the state for this, your bank does. MDA lends beside a commercial lender at one percent above prime, and the loan runs no longer than the bank's own, up to five years. It covers half the project cost or $500,000, whichever is less, and will not go below $50,000. A small business here means under 100 staff and under $7 million of revenue, or $750,000 profit after tax. The money can buy or expand a building, cover working capital, or buy machinery. It cannot refinance debt you already owe. Forestry firms face a tighter test.

This is not money, it is a guarantee that lets you bid. Most public building work needs a performance and payment bond, and a small contractor often cannot get one. MDA walks you through the bonding process. Where you need it, MDA guarantees the bond. It covers federal, state and local government jobs, some private jobs with public funding, and sometimes bid bonds. Five gates. You must be in a building trade, certified by MDA as a Minority Business Enterprise, trading a year, based in Mississippi, and able to show a bond is out of reach on normal terms. You cannot sublet more than 75 percent of the job.