Grant information -- Appeared May 25, 2003 - Employment articles from The Dominion Post

This article appeared in the Dominion Post Newspaper on May 25, 2003.

She shows you the money

MacLennan directs small businesses to grants, other funding

JUDY RECKART

Ron Rittenhouse/The Dominion Post

Barbara MacLennan (left) and Carl Irwin plan a West Virginia Industries of the Future workshop recently at Irwin's office on WVU's Evansdale campus.

Barbara MacLennan is the "go-to" woman for entrepreneurial innovators ready to leave their basement workshops behind and head for the marketplace.

Owner of Greenlight Research LLC for the past two years, MacLennan has worked closely with the West Virginia Small Business Development Office to spread the word about Small Business Innovative Research grants and other funding opportunities available to the state's innovators and visionaries.

SBIR grants underwrite the development of technologies federal agencies need but currently are unable to purchase in the marketplace. SBIR grant monies currently are funneled through 11 federal agencies whose unmet technological needs occur in diverse scientific engineering fields from manufacturing process control, environmental monitoring and medical devices and software to avionics, optical computing, aquaculture and education.

"But the social sciences are just as likely to offer commercial potential, not just information technology and engineering," MacLennan explained. "Established manufacturers contemplating innovative change to make existing processes more cost-effective also may be eligible for SBIR funds.

"Most West Virginians don't realize a large support network exists within the state to help residents access SBIR grants," she added.

"For example, Carl Irwin of West Virginia Industries of the Future has contacts across the state that connect major West Virginia industries to support funding sources. Sharon Stratton and Lisa Raines with the Small Business Development Center are approachable and friendly, and provide excellent support and advice to West Virginians who dream of owning their own businesses but who aren't sure how to get started.

"I believe there's specific support available in West Virginia for any type of company that residents would want to start here. It's a great time for them to follow their dreams.

"In fact, anyone can write a proposal for a $5,000 grant the SBDC offers to small West Virginia businesses going after SBIR funding. I know of many million-dollar companies who started out as that 'guy in the basement with a good idea' and an SBIR grant. It's also a low-risk way for established businesses to test the waters with a new product or process without spending their own research-and-development money."

MacLennan's efforts to encourage West Virginians to avail themselves of both in-state resources and federal SBIR grant funding earned her recognition by the West Virginia District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration as Research Advocate of the Year at its annual awards luncheon held in Flatwoods on May 9.

Nominating MacLennan for the honor, SBDC business consultant Sharon Stratton wrote, "MacLennan has provided pro bono research to Small Business Development Center clients by freely sharing information and industry contacts with grant applicants. She's also matched many technology-based businesses with university experts to facilitate their projects and introduced area business people to international executives to further promote their efforts."

A recent WVU graduate with a master's degree in journalism, MacLennan has worked as a technology journalist and as a business intelligence analyst for firms such as Warroom Research and Intelligent Automation Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based research and development company focusing on commercialization.

During her tenure with I.A.I., she contributed to the development of technology projects including American Airlines' Web tool and media management software. She also worked on technologies as diverse as unmanned air vehicles and a mechanism designed to perform ballistics matching.

"I'm a lateral thinker and tend to see the broad picture in most situations," she said. "What's that saying about journalists? 'They have an ocean of knowledge that's an inch thick'? That's me."

But MacLennan's current list of active, successful clients illustrates the value of that "ocean of knowledge."

Power Sonix in Martinsburg is manufacturing the world's loudest, most focused loudspeakers, extremely useful technology on ships, in helicopters and in large buildings.

Princeton resident Debra Farmer, one of fewer than 100 people in the United States to have worked for both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, is developing a new type of standardized medical coding.

Fairmont's FMW Composites engineers work with materials used by NASA and the U.S. Marine Corps.

With $100,000 in SBIR funds that MacLennan helped him obtain from the National Institute of Health, Mike Masterman of Buckhannon-based Extreme Endeavors (featured in The Dominion Post on Aug. 25, 2002) is developing high-tech, wireless firefighting gear that may save the lives of firefighters and other first responders.

After his research revealed that more on-duty firefighters die from stress and overexertion than from entrapment, falling, jumping or being struck by falling objects, Masterman (a former fire chief himself) began designing a technologically sophisticated garment that wirelessly relays the wearer's heart rate and blood pressure to an on-site incident commander. Armed with this information, the commander is able to alert the firefighter if his own body has put him at additional risk.

"The 'electronic lifeline' is a component of a 21st century fire suit Extreme Endeavors is developing in conjunction with NIH, NIOSH, the Army Research Labs, the Natick Soldier Center and the Department of Justice," MacLennan said. "Eventually the suit will include Mike's electronic lifeline plus infrared capabilities, speech communication and breathing apparatus in one lightweight system for first responders."

She also noted Extreme Endeavors will test its electronic lifeline with assistance from members of the Clarksburg Fire Department at the WVU Fire Service Extension facility on Mon Boulevard beginning at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

"Some of the most interesting and exciting innovators and entrepreneurs in the country are located here in West Virginia, and I've had the good fortune to work with them," MacLennan said modestly.

And they've had the good fortune to hook up with the "go-to" woman.

About the U.S. Small
Business Administration

Congress created the U.S. Small Business Administration in 1953 to help America's entrepreneurs form successful small enterprises. Today, SBA offices in every state, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico offer financing, training and advocacy for small firms. The agency also works with thousands of lending, educational and training institutions nationwide.

The SBA enables its lending partners to provide financing to small businesses when funding is otherwise unavailable on reasonable terms by guaranteeing major portions of loans made to small businesses.

The agency does not currently have funding for direct loans nor does it provide grants or low interest rate loans for business startup or expansion.

The eligibility requirements and credit criteria of the program are very broad in order to accommodate a wide range of financing needs.

When a small business applies to a lending partner for a loan, the lender reviews the application and decides if it merits a loan on its own or if it requires additional support in the form of an SBA guaranty. SBA backing on the loan is then requested by the lender. In guaranteeing the loan, the SBA assures the lender that, in the event the borrower does not repay the loan, the government will reimburse the lending partner for a portion of its loss.

By providing this guaranty, the SBA is able to help tens of thousands of small businesses every year get financing they would not otherwise obtain.

To qualify for an SBA guaranty, a small business must meet the SBA's criteria, and the lender must certify that it could not provide funding on reasonable terms without an SBA guaranty.

The SBA can guarantee as much as 85 percent on loans of up to $150,000 and 75 percent on loans of more than $150,000. In most cases, the maximum guaranty is $1 million. There are higher loan limits for international trade, defense-dependent small firms affected by defense reductions, and Certified Development Company loans.

Source: www.sba.gov