[caption id="attachment_24619" align="alignleft" width="350"] Brothers Garret and Dakota Porter own 45th Parallel Lighting LLC, producer of ActionGlow LED sports kits.[/caption] Venture North isn't afraid of it. A quarter of its clients were under the age of 40 when they sought out financing help from Venture North or...
Banks and credit unions are making numerous moves to capitalize on the region’s bustling business and population growth. Some are building new offices and branches. Others are consolidating to improve efficiencies. And there are a couple of new entrants into the market. [caption id="attachment_24624" align="alignleft" width="405"] Construction...
Bankers and credit union executives take a variety of things into consideration when deciding how much interest to pay depositors for holding their money and how much to charge for loans. Among them are the current need for deposits to fund loans. Inflation forecasts and what...
Rumors of the demise of brick-and-mortar bank branches are not true, say area bank and credit union leaders. “I’ve been in credit unions for 34 years and we’ve always heard branches are going away. But it’s just not true,” said David Leusink, president and chief executive...
Some local bank and credit union officials say they’re anxious to cultivate the blossoming marijuana industry. There’s just one problem. Although Michigan voters approved the sale and use of medical and recreational marijuana, the drug is still an illegal controlled substance under federal law. “We’ve made the decision...
State Savings Bank in Frankfort and Central State Bank in Beulah operated separately in Benzie County under common ownership for more than 30 years. But that all changed in October. The two banks have combined under the State Savings Bank name and are expanding beyond their...
Rising interest rates have been a boon to savers, who have seen little return on their savings accounts and certificates of deposits at banks and other financial institutions in recent years. “Rates were so low, you almost expected some banks to charge people to keep their...
Tax assistance. Product labeling, rebranding and marketing. Surveying land. These are services that can be small business building blocks, but sometimes are not so easy to afford. Enter Venture North Funding & Development, with a new program to assist its loan clients with such costs. The organization,...
A commercial driveway. A labeling conveyor for bottles. Fifty bridal gowns. Little things like these had the power to make or break a new business this year in the 10-county Grand Traverse region. That's where Venture North Funding and Development steps in. Since 2015, Venture North...
Selling a home is fairly straightforward. Selling a business is anything but. Confidentiality marks the latter, says Curtis Kuttnauer, co-owner of Golden Circle Advisors (GCA), a Traverse City business brokerage that has helped several owners across Michigan sell their small- to-mid-sized businesses since GCA was founded...
