• Princeville Ranch Adventures prepares for summer season • SBA launches new program • Grants and loans for renewable energy projects • The Wynne Group moves to Kaua‘i Princeville Ranch Adventures prepares for summer season Due to steady tour reservations
• Princeville Ranch Adventures prepares for summer season
• SBA launches new program
• Grants and loans for renewable energy projects
• The Wynne Group moves to Kaua‘i
Princeville Ranch Adventures prepares for summer season
Due to steady tour reservations throughout the winter and spring seasons, with April and May figures nearly matching 2008 numbers, Princeville Ranch Adventures recently made a new investment to ensure ongoing success, according to a press release received this week.
A new zip line has been added to the course named King Kong, which is reportedly the longest on Kaua‘i at 1,200 feet.
Guests are able to access the line by walking a ramp to a 26-foot high platform and can “race” side-by-side with views of Hihimanu mountain.
Other improvements include upgrading facilities related to both guest and staff comfort, such as restrooms, parking, tour picnic areas and the staff lounge. Upcoming are permanent staff expansion, specifically in the Guest Services arena, and website renovation, including online booking capability.
For more information visit www.adventureskauai.com
SBA launches new program
Small businesses suffering financial hardship as a result of the slow economy may be eligible to receive temporary relief to keep their doors open and get their cash flow back on track through a new SBA loan program. The America’s Recovery Capital program was created as a no-interest loan to help small businesses that have a history of good performance, but as a result of the tough economy, are struggling to make debt payments.
Beginning on June 15, SBA will start guaranteeing the ARC loans through participating SBA lenders. These new, unique loans are deferred-payment loans of up to $35,000 available to established, viable, for-profit small businesses that need short-term help to make their principal and interest payments on existing qualifying debt. ARC loans are interest-free to the borrower, 100 percent guaranteed by the SBA, and have no SBA fees associated with them.
Potential borrowers are viable small businesses in need of financial relief to make payments on existing, qualifying small business debt. A viable business is an existing firm with evidence of profitability or positive cash flow in at least one of the past two years. The loan is not for start up ventures. The borrower must provide documentation to show immediate hardship such as declining sales, frozen credit or difficulty in meeting obligations such as rent or payroll. They must also have an acceptable credit score and be no more than 60 days past due on any loan being paid with ARC loan proceeds. Only one ARC loan will be made to an eligible small business.
ARC loans will be disbursed within a period of up to six months and will provide funds to be used for payments of principal and interest for existing, qualifying small business debt including mortgages, term and revolving lines of credit, capital leases, credit card obligations and notes payable to vendors, suppliers and utilities. Repayment will not begin until 12 months after the final disbursement. After the 12-moth deferral period, borrowers will pay back the loan principal over a period of five years. ARC loans will be made by commercial lenders, not SBA directly. For a list of local lenders or more information on ARC loans, visit www.sba.gov/hi or call the Hawaii District Office at 808-541-2990.
Grants and loans for renewable energy projects
Acting State Director, Melissa L. Pang Ching, for USDA Rural Development Hawai‘i State Office, recently announced that applications are now being accepted for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
The REAP program is authorized in Section 9007 of the 2008 Farm Bill. REAP offers grants and/or loan guarantees for the purchase and installation of renewable energy generating systems, and for energy efficiency improvements. Assistance is limited to rural small businesses and agricultural producers, including farmers and ranchers. Non-profits and units of government are not eligible. Residential use is not allowed. Projects must be located in a rural area, which is all of Hawai‘i and the Western Pacific except the Honolulu Census Designated Place.
REAP grants and guarantees may be used individually or in combination. Together they may finance up to 75 percent of a project’s cost. Grants can finance up to 25 percent of project cost, not to exceed $500,000 for a renewable energy system and not to exceed $250,000 for an energy efficiency project. An applicant can even apply for both types of projects, obtaining a maximum grant of up to $750,000.
Applications for funding must be received in the Hawaii State Office on or before 4:30 p.m. July 31. Neither complete nor incomplete applications received after this date and time will be considered, regardless of the postmark on the application.
For the first time ever, there is a national set-aside for applications for grants less than $20,000. The reserve funds for these grants will be accessible to projects on the 15th and the last of day of each month through the application deadline date. Also, requests for “reserve” funds for guaranteed loan-only and guaranteed loan/grant combination requests may be made at any time and will be allocated to projects on a competitive basis using priority scores of the applications on the 15th and the last day of each month.
Energy efficiency improvement projects can be in addition to a renewable system. It can include things such as retrofitting existing processing operations, replacing lighting/refrigeration/electric motors with more efficient equipment, and even build a more energy efficient facility (when the facility is used for the same purpose, is approximately the same size, and based on the energy audit will provide more energy savings than improving an existing facility. The program can be used to purchase and install renewable energy systems: solar, bioenergy (biomass, biogass), geothermal, wind, hydropower, ocean (including tidal, wave, current, and thermal), and hydrogen.
USDA Rural Development’s mission is to deliver programs that will support increasing economic opportunity and improve the quality of life of rural residents. As a venture capital entity, Rural Development provides equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. Additional information about rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or on USDA’s website, www.rurdev.usda.gov or the Hawai‘i State Office homepage, www.rurdev.usda.gov/hi
The Wynne Group moves to Kaua‘i
President Richard H. Wynne announced this week that The Wynne Group has relocated to Kaua‘i from Washington, D.C.
The Wynne Group, established in 1990, offers a full range of services to companies, associations and non-profits, including:
— Domestic and international convention, event and seminar planning, management and marketing
— Publications and media production and marketing
— Continuing education program management
— Association, non-profit and corporate sponsorship procurement
— Domestic and international advertising sales and fundraising
— Public and media relations
— Association and non-profit membership relations and recruitment
— Financial management, budgeting, contract negotiation and government compliance for associations and non-profits
— Operations management and staff supervision for associations and non-profits
— Website & newsletter design and management
Wynne, a veteran of association, non-profit and corporate events management and marketing, brings over 20 years of professional planning experience to Kaua‘i. In addition, Wynne has an additional 10 years of advertising and exhibit sales and sponsorship procurement experience under his belt. He has worked successfully with groups in such wide-ranging fields as tourism, anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy, visual arts, lead paint abatement, performing arts, indoor air quality, financial reporting and computer games and peripherals.
For more information on the services offered by The Wynne Group visit www.thewynnegroup.net
