New Loan Program Targets Businesses Destroyed By Katrina

Business owners attend loan information session in Pearlington.

50% percent of all businesses in Hancock County were severely damaged or destroyed during Hurricane Katrina, but a new loan program in that county is hoping to bring some of that business back. MPB’s Phoebe Judge reports.

At a meeting held yesterday in Pearlington, the so called ground zero for Hurricane Katrina, business owners gathered to hear about a new $2.5 million dollar low interest loan program for businesses that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Basil Kennedy, is the president of the Hancock County Community Development Foundation, the group offering the loan program,

“What this whole program is trying to do is to get people to rebuild their businesses , to help them go into the future hopefully debt free because many people will get forgivable loans and will never have to pay it back.”

Those that don’t get forgivable loans will be given a fixed interest rate of 2 percent. Norman Shayu is one of those business owners attending the meeting. He owned a rental property business before Katrina but lost everything in the storm,

“Everything I had went under the water. I lost all my transportation, tractors, lawnmowers, apartment buildings, six houses, and I was totally bankrupt.”

The loan program is being funded through the Mississippi Development Authority and to be eligible applicants must have owned their business six months prior to Katrina says Tish Williams, president of the Hancock County Chamber of Commerce,

“In order to have a vibrant community you need all of it. You need a good educational system, you need stores and vibrant businesses, and small business is the backbone of our economy.”

Williams says given the extraordinary interest in the loan program already it’s clear that the need will far exceed the funds available.