The Southwest Intermediary Finance Team (SWIFT) has received a $9 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for meat and poultry processing expansion in Southwestern Oklahoma. SWIFT is a private nonprofit corporation that aims to increase economic activity and employment in Southwestern Oklahoma’s rural communities by lending to small businesses and is housed in the Business Enterprise Center on Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s (SWOSU) Weatherford campus. In total, the USDA granted $14 million in funds to aid meat and poultry processors in Oklahoma who have struggled to meet demand during the COVID-19 pandemic as people stocked up on meat. SWIFT plans to use its portion of the funds to expand meat and poultry processing facilities, with bison as part of the meat processing options to support Native American tribes involved in small businesses with meat processing.
The Timothy T. Day Business Enterprise Center (BEC) on the SWOSU Weatherford campus houses SWIFT. Both the BEC and SWOSU’s educational programs work together to increase the economic vitality of Western Oklahoma. The role of the university extends beyond the classroom, and SWOSU’s priority is to provide regional businesses and communities with the tools they need to succeed. SWIFT is not only a lender to small businesses in rural Oklahoma, but they also provide support and free business and technical advice to their clients. They offer free counseling services to businesses in Western Oklahoma and meet with businesses free of charge to see these partnerships through and to give them a good start.
“I’m very proud of the SWIFT staff and board for their commitment and hard work in securing millions of dollars for investment in our area’s rural communities,” said Randy Beutler, SWIFT board member.
The SWIFT program began its operations in 2012 and has become the largest lending partner in the state for USDA funds. SWIFT loans money that has been awarded from the USDA and other entities to small businesses. The SWIFT program’s service area for the USDA Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion covers the entire state of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma is the fifth largest beef producer in the United States, accounting for about 5.2% of cattle in the country. The USDA Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion grant funds can be used to build new processing facilities, develop, install, or modernize equipment and technology, ensure compliance with packaging and labeling requirements, uphold occupational and other safety requirements, modify facilities or equipment to protect food safety, support workforce recruitment, training, retention, and more.
SWIFT has already begun working with local small businesses in their pipeline that could qualify for funding under the new USDA award. SWIFT has been working diligently to qualify potential projects and businesses that could have a need for these new funds. Of the $9 million award, SWIFT believes that $6 million will be committed to projects very soon, and they are working to identify businesses and projects that could qualify for the remaining $3 million. SWIFT’s goal is to loan these funds by the end of this year. Small businesses interested in working with SWIFT should operate in a rural area, be for-profit, be defined as a small business by the Small Business Administration, be engaged in SWIFT’s service area, not have any delinquent existing debt obligations, have reasonable invested equity, use alternative financial resources, be able to demonstrate a need for the loan funds, and use the funds for a sound business purpose.
For more information on the SWIFT program, visit https://www.swiftok.fund/index. html, or contact Doug Misak, SWIFT President, at doug. [email protected] or 580-7743850.
