Small Business Administration: Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs (PRIME)

The Small Business Administration (SBA) aids, counsels, assists, and protects the interests of small businesses.  The SBA also provides funding to organizations that deliver training and technical assistance to small business concerns and nascent entrepreneurs to promote growth, expansion, innovation, increased productivity and management improvement. The PRIME program will provide funding in the following two areas:

• Track 1 (Technical Assistance) seeks applications for funding to provide training and technical assistance programs to disadvantaged entrepreneurs including training specifically designed to implement automated financial accounting, financial reporting, and inventory management systems, etc.
• Track 2 (Capacity Building) seeks applications for funding to provide training and capacity building services to Microenterprise Development Organizations (MDOs), microenterprise development programs, and groups of such organizations to assist them in developing microenterprise training and services, including services geared towards building MDO capacity to provide business training and technical assistance that will improve the ability of small businesses, to be profitable by means of implementing automated business systems.

Amount: Up to $5,000,000 in funding is available for approximately 35 awards. SBA anticipates awards for Tracks I and II will be in the range of $50,000 to $250,000. A 50 percent matching contribution is required, but SBA may reduce or eliminate this requirement in certain circumstances.

Eligibility: Organizations must be one of the following:

• A microenterprise development organization or program, such as a non-profit Community Development Financial Institution or similar entity, that has a demonstrated record of delivering microenterprise services to disadvantaged entrepreneurs
• An Intermediary which has experience in delivering technical assistance to disadvantaged entrepreneurs
• A microenterprise development organization or program that is accountable to a local community, working in conjunction with a State or local government or Indian Tribe
• An Indian tribe acting on its own, if it can certify that no private organization or program referred to above exists within its jurisdiction

Link: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=276682

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