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EZ Business Resource Center Uses Startup Loans To Assist Businesses and Create Jobs in Heart of Knoxville

Knoxville, Tennessee, EZ

The Bourbon Street Café is one of the newest additions to Knoxville's EZ. The restaurant specializes in home-style New Orleans and southern-style meals, sandwiches, and desserts. Owner Lilita Smith is a bundle of energy who is very excited about this endeavor.

Smith worked with the Tennessee Small Business Development Center and Economic Ventures, partners in the Knoxville EZ Business Assistance Center, for approximately 1 1/2 years before receiving a $50,000 startup loan from the EZ to help finance her business. She accomplished all of this while working another job and going to school full-time. She spent time acquiring equipment for the café and the equipment served as collateral for the loan. Smith found the staff of the EZ business assistance center to be very helpful throughout the entire process.

Smith says that the hardest part about getting started was getting detailed information about her industry. People were reluctant to share information with someone who was going to be a potential competitor. The easiest part about getting started was "trusting in God and working out the menu." Four new jobs were added to Knoxville's EZ with the grand opening of the Bourbon Street Café in October 2003.

On April 17, 2004, business owner Gary Gamble addressed a crowd of well-wishers at the grand reopening of GAM'S Hair Fashions in the Mechanicsville community of Knoxville. Gamble's business was displaced when his former location was acquired as part of the economic redevelopment plan in Mechanicsville. However, thanks to a $50,000 loan from the Knoxville EZ Business Resource Center, Gamble now owns the building at 1524 University Avenue where his business is housed and he was able to remain in the community just a few feet away from his former location. Gamble credits the assistance of the EZ business resource center staff throughout the process of securing the loan to purchase the building and new equipment. With the reopening of GAM'S, Knoxville's EZ has retained two jobs and added seven new ones.

Healthcare Billing Resources is a company that provides billing, administrative, and consultative services to healthcare providers in Knoxville. Owner Jennifer Monroe started the business out of her home in 1998. The business grew quickly and she soon moved to a bigger home. However, the success of the business necessitated finding appropriate office space. "We like the close proximity to downtown and to the hospitals and doctors we serve," said Monroe. She stated she "gets more office space for the dollar" by having her business located downtown. In addition, the office is close to where most of her employees live.

The continued growth of the business made it necessary to purchase additional equipment to increase operational efficiency, so Monroe contacted the Knoxville EZ business resource center for assistance. Because she had all the necessary paperwork when she showed up for her appointment, the EZ was able to process a business loan of $50,000 to her in a matter of days. Jennifer has used her loan money to expand the office space and purchase new equipment. She was excited to learn she could fully depreciate the equipment costs on her Federal taxes in the first year through the Increased IRS Section 179 Deductions because her business is located in the Knoxville EZ. She is also able to take advantage of the EZ wage credit because one of her four full-time and two part-time employees live in the EZ. The EZ wage credit is worth up to $3,000 yearly to EZ employers for each employee that lives in the EZ.

For more information on the programs of the Knoxville EZ, please contact Director of Community Development Madeline Rogero at (865) 215-2322.