Fund your Puerto Rico business

When your own money is not enough, start with free counseling and then look at which program really lends. The Economic Development Bank (Banco de Desarrollo Económico)² lends directly and also alongside a bank. Regular SBA loans come from a lender.

What’s different in Puerto Rico

• SBTDC consulting is free. The counseling page says so for anyone who wants to start, and it puts seminars and courses in that list.
• Boost Your Business (Impulso a Tu Negocio) is not a startup check. It is participation in a loan, collateral for a bank, or professional services so you can apply.
• The Economic Development Bank’s venture capital is an investment, not a grant. The page describes it as matching with private capital.
• A disaster does not approve the loan by itself. The SBA asks for a declaration and that you qualify.

Do this

1. Ask for an appointment at the Puerto Rico SBTDC. The consulting services are free for entrepreneurs or people who want to start a business¹. The list names the plan, financial analysis, financing, exporting, innovating, and seminars and courses. You choose the region. San Juan, Ponce, Caguas, Arecibo, Fajardo, Barranquitas and San Germán have a center. International trade and innovation serve the whole island.
2. See what the Economic Development Bank lends directly and what it lends with a bank. It offers direct financing for entrepreneurs in manufacturing, commerce, tourism, agriculture, services and other sectors⁷. Among its term loans, New Entrepreneur (Nuevo Empresario) is for new businesses that have been operating for one year or less, up to $500,000³. The credit programs of Boost Your Business run together with a commercial bank or a cooperative. In participation, the Bank buys up to 50% of an eligible loan, and the page says it suits larger amounts better. Collateral support goes up to 50%² of the loan, in cash, to cover whatever guarantee is missing.
3. Ask for technical assistance if what you lack is the application file. The Bank offers legal, accounting and financial advisory services, free, to make access to financing easier. They are offered in the 78 municipalities, through contractors, for anyone who needs support when applying for a loan or federal aid, for example for those two credit programs. The referral goes through 787-641-4300, extension 3402². That can produce an appointment with a contractor. It does not produce an approved loan.
4. Treat venture capital as an investment. Puerto Rico Venture Capital Access is a venture capital investment, matched with private capital, not a grant to the business². The page says the Bank named an administrator and that the application is made at that administrator’s link. It is not money for every new business.
5. Understand who makes the regular SBA loans. On the loans page, the 7(a) loans are delivered by SBA 7(a) lenders and microloans are provided by intermediaries⁴. The SBA loans guide explains each type. The SBA district office for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in San Juan, helps with financing programs, counseling, certifications for federal contracts and disaster recovery and serves the 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico⁶.
6. Do not count a disaster as startup capital. Disaster assistance consists of several types of loans, for a declared disaster, and only if you qualify. There are loans for physical damage, economic damage and a military reservist's economic damage⁵. You need the declaration and your eligibility.
7. Have the papers ready. A lender asks for the certificate and an EIN. Register your business and Get your tax IDs are the Puerto Rico filings.

What you get back

A counseling appointment, if the SBTDC or the Economic Development Bank gives you one. A filed application, if the Bank, a bank, a cooperative or an intermediary accepts it. A decision after that. None of this is an approved loan or a finished plan.