Oxford loan program helps businesses get their start

Standing before city council, Alan Kyger holds out up mortgage papers and rips them in half.

"Its okay," Kyger says. "I checked with Joe and he said I can do this."

Kyger's demonstration is his way of delivering good news to the council regarding a loan that they city gave out five years ago.

In 2011, Miami student Steve Thomas had an idea to open up a clothing shop in Oxford. Steve was a senior at the time and was trying to decide the best way to fund his store.

“The original plan was to finance it on my own,” said Thomas. “Simply from talking with the staff at the city, we got connected with Alan Kyger, who is an amazing resource to the city of Oxford.”

Kyger is the economic development director for Oxford. He told Steve about the revolving loan fund, thinking that Steve and Seaview were perfect candidates for the loan.

“The who purpose is to assist startups and people who don’t have the funds and means to get where the need to be,” said Alan Kyger.

In August of 2011, Thomas took out a $20,000 loan out from the RLF. Five years later. Steve and his partner Cody Costanzo have finished paying back the money they borrowed with interest.

“Being young and fresh out of college, you know we don’t have any money,” Costanzo said to city council. “So being able to come to you guys was huge.”

Seaview Outfitters has come a long way since they received their initial funding from Oxford. Not only have they paid off their entire loan from the city, but they have since branched out. The have opened another Seaview store in Bloomington. Another, located in Lexington, will open in the coming weeks. Additionally, they have opened a yoga studio in Oxford known as Root Yoga.

They aren’t the only local business to take advantage of the RLF. Businesses like Kofenya, Moon Market and Quarter Barrel are all got part of their funding from the RLF.

The fund has been a great asset to the city, with only one business, Arabian Nights, failing to pay back the money they had borrowed. When the recession hit, businesses were able to turn to the city in a time where banks simply weren’t lending out money.

But the city still assumes risk every time they loan out money from the RLF.

“As we loan out money, the pool of money that we have drops,” said Kyger. “The risk is that it doesn’t come back. But through the years we’ve gained interest back from the loans.”

The fund is designed to help innovators and young entrepreneurs get their start. Kyger believes that Thomas and his partners are a perfect example of the good that comes from the RLF.

“It allowed those guys to get their feet on the ground and gave them that little push they needed,” Kyger said. “It’s a nice success story.”