Fund your South Carolina business

When your own money isn’t enough, start with an advisor, then ask which program actually pays. The Secretary of State points new businesses to the South Carolina Small Business Development Centers³ (SBDC), the SBA, and the Department of Commerce. Regular SBA loans come from a lender. The Commerce grants page is a list of specific programs, not a startup check.

What’s different in South Carolina

• SBDC consulting is free. The South Carolina Small Business Development Centers³ offer free, private consulting¹.
• One SBA district covers the state, and three offices split the counties. Columbia, a virtual Charleston office, and an office in Duncan that the page labels Spartanburg.
• The grants list pays governments, regions, exporters, and organizations. A new shop is not the recipient those paragraphs describe, except the export program, and that one is for selling abroad.
• The state’s SSBCI loan money goes through a bank. South Carolina’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) loan participation program lowers banks' risk on small business loans, using only federal funds⁶. The loan itself comes from the bank. The SBDC’s SSBCI consultants work one on one and in confidence, to get you ready for loan financing, whether SSBCI or another source, and charge no fee².

Do this

1. Write down what you need and what it’s for. Equipment, inventory, rent, and a purchase of a business are different asks. Match the ask to a program that names that use. Do not start from a grant advertisement that promises a check for every new business.
2. Book free SBDC consulting. The SBDC’s own site says the South Carolina Small Business Development Centers³ offer free, private consulting¹. Book an appointment on the SBDC’s signup page. The site does not price its seminars.* Check a class’s fee before you sign up. The one-on-one consulting is the part the site calls free.
3. Use the SBA office for your county. The South Carolina District Office offers funding programs, counseling, federal contracting certifications, and disaster recovery for the entire state. Columbia, at 1835 Assembly St., Suite 1425, Columbia, SC 29201, by appointment, lists Calhoun, Florence, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Darlington, Dillon, Sumter, Lexington, Richland, Aiken, Orangeburg, Marion, Lee, Clarendon, and Marlboro. Charleston, a virtual office, same phone as Columbia, lists Williamsburg, Georgetown, Horry, Hampton, Dorchester, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Beaufort, and Jasper. The Spartanburg office is at 1875 E. Main St., Duncan, SC 29334, by appointment, and it lists Newberry, Anderson, Cherokee, Kershaw, Chesterfield, Chester, Pickens, Edgefield, Greenville, Lancaster, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, York, Spartanburg, Fairfield, Oconee, Saluda, Union, and Abbeville⁴.
4. Understand who lends the regular SBA loans. 7(a) and the other ordinary SBA loans come from participating lenders, not the SBA. The SBA loans guide explains who makes each kind.
5. Read the Commerce grants list before you treat “grants” as startup cash. The grants page says the programs are programs for infrastructure, regional development, innovation, export growth, and rural opportunity. Eligibility differs by program. Community Development Block Grants go to eligible local governments, for community infrastructure, public facilities, neighborhood revitalization, and economic development. Appalachian Regional Commission money supports eligible projects in South Carolina's Appalachian counties. The export program pays eligible South Carolina businesses, for export funding and reimbursements to enter or expand in global markets. The Relentless Challenge pays organizations that strengthen small businesses, entrepreneurship, and high-growth innovation. The grant is competitive. Fraunhofer grants pay organizations, colleges, and universities, as matching grants for applied research with Fraunhofer USA. The Rural Development Initiative supports strategic planning and competitive projects in rural communities⁵. Eligibility varies, and the page says to ask which program fits. Be wary of anyone selling access to a guaranteed grant.
6. Keep your paperwork ready. Advisors and lenders ask for your formation documents and EIN. Register your business and Get your tax IDs are the steps that produce them.
7. After a declared disaster, the SBA can lend directly. Disaster assistance covers several kinds of loan the SBA makes itself, for a declared disaster, and only if you qualify⁷. A disaster by itself does not qualify you. Check the declaration and the loan type before you apply.

What you get back

An appointment with an advisor, and help preparing what a lender asks for. A grant decision comes only if the program you read actually pays a business like yours. A loan decision comes from a lender, or from the SBA on a disaster loan after a declaration. These pages do not promise a finished plan or an approval.