Franchisors and local lenders meet and greet in Houston

MARY JO LARSON Originally posted in the March 2014 issue. See full article here

Local and regional lenders need leads, too, and they sought to find them at BoeFly’s Franchise Lending Spotlight in Houston. 

For local and regional lenders in the Houston area, it was a good place to, simply put, “get leads,” said Larry Kilgore of American National Bank of Texas, while attending BoeFly’s Franchise Lending Spotlight in Houston last month.

“We need leads for deals. That’s why we’re here,” said Kilgore, whose bank focuses on financing businesses in north and east Texas. “There’s always a gap between your own sources of networking, and you have to fill those with more leads.”

BoeFly, an online source that matches up franchisee financing packages with local and regional lenders, has held previous Franchise Lending Spotlight events in other cities, such as Atlanta and Boston. Franchisor executives give a quick presentation to the group of lenders on their brand and their growth prospects. The goal is to educate the lenders on the franchise concept, so there is comfort when the brand’s franchisee prospect knocks on the bank’s door for funding.  In Houston, about 11 brands were featured in front of some 120 attendees, many of those being representatives from banks, said Mike Rozman, co-president and founder of BoeFly.