Budding Entrepreneurs —
Daniel Lage, a recent graduate of Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, was one of five semifinalists in the National Federation of Independent Business Young Entrepreneur Awards program. He received a $5,000 scholarship. Lage owns Book Express, which sells used textbooks to benefit disadvantaged children. He also helped raise more than $20,000 to fight diabetes, breast cancer and other diseases.

Grant Aid —
Enterprise Florida is expanding its “Phase 0” grant program to help with proposals for phase one Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) federal grants. Phase 0 provides up to $3,000 for market research, proposal/grant writing, legal aid for patent filing, site visits to labs and other preparation for submitting SBIR or STTR proposals.

Links: Go to the Links page for more details on the "Phase O" grant program — or call 407/956-5606.

Loans to Vets —
The U.S. Small Business Administration’s new Patriot Express loan program provides up to $500,000 for startup, expansion, equipment purchases, working capital, inventory or business-occupied real estate purchases. The loans, which are made through participating banks and other lenders, are available to military veterans, reservists, National Guard members and current spouses of any of the above and widowed spouses of service members and veterans
who died of a military-related injury.