DevelopOhio

Samuel Adams recently named Ohio’s Economic and Community Development Institute (ECDI) as its official Cincinnati lending partner for its Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program, which provides microloans and business coaching for small businesses in the food, beverage, craft brewing and hospitality industries, according to a CNBC.com news release. Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams, said in the release, “Small businesses are so important to our economy, but running a small business is not easy. We look forward to helping more passionate entrepreneurs … and are excited and eager to help more Ohio small businesses in particular through our expanded partnership with ECDI.” ECDI has been the program’s Columbus lending partner since 2012. The program often helps “small businesses that traditional lenders won’t work with” and “has provided over $3 million in microloans to more than 350 small businesses” as well as business coaching to more than 4,000 small business owners since it began in 2008.