Arkansas Capital Corporation Named Largest SBA Lender in Arkansas

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Thanks to our many local community bank partners, Arkansas Capital Corporation has been named the largest SBA lender in Arkansas by total value of loans for FY 2012.

  1. Arkansas Capital Corporation, Little Rock – $31,541,300
  2. Arvest Bank, Fayetteville – $26,332,100
  3. First Financial Bank, El Dorado – $5,873,500
  4. First Western Bank, Booneville – $4,455,000
  5. Legacy National Bank, Springdale – $3,755,000
  6. Regions Bank, Birmingham, Ala. – $3,462,186
  7. Delta Trust & Bank, Parkdale – $3,408,000
  8. Peoples State Bank, Hallettsville, Tex. – $3,400,000
  9. Centennial Bank, Conway – $3,361,000
  10. First National Bank of Fort Smith, Fort Smith – $3,280,000 [Read more…]

Entrepreneurial System Takes Root in Arkansas

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You’ve got 60 seconds to pitch your business idea to a few hundred audience members. If they like yours more than others, you’ll get a cash prize. You’ll get a surge of validation that might encourage you to pursue your idea. Most importantly, you might be introduced to people who can help make your dream a reality. That’s the concept behind “Gone in 60 Seconds,” which is one of numerous entrepreneur-friendly efforts in the state that didn’t exist a few years ago. Born in August 2011 and held about 10 times across the state so far, “Gone in 60 Seconds” gives 20 participants a chance to pitch their ideas before a voting audience. The winner typically wins up to $1,000. As the event’s creator, Jeff Amerine, describes it as “a mating, if you will, of ‘Shark Tank’ and ‘American Idol.’” According to David Moody, an entrepreneur who volunteers with the event, the real goal is to get a lot of ideas into the big end of an economic funnel so that startups – new, scalable companies – flow out the other side. “Gone in 60 Seconds” is one of numerous efforts that are part of what he calls an “entrepreneurial ecosystem.” [Read more…]

Movista Receives $82,000 Investment from ASTA

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Movista co-founders Stan Zylowski and April Seggebrush (Photo by Beth Hall)
Movista co-founders Stan Zylowski and April Seggebrush (Photo by Beth Hall)
Bentonville retail software firm Movista has received an $82,959 investment from the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority. The funds will be used to commercialize Movista’s proprietary technology, which provides retail tracking, verifying and reporting activities, according to a news release. The funds will come from ASTA’s Seed Capital Investment Program. Movista is an Innovate Arkansas client firm. ASTA recently invested in another IA company, Angel Eye Camera Systems of Little Rock. [Read more…]

BiologicsMD Names David Owens CEO

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David Owens
David Owens
Fayetteville pharmaceutical development firm BiologicsMD has named David Owens its first CEO. BiologicsMD is a portfolio company of VIC Technology Venture Development, which had previously managed its operations. Most recently, Owens was chief business officer for Novira Therapeutics, an antiviral drug discovery company based in Doylestown, Pa. In March, Novira completed a $25 million Series A financing round. BiologicsMD has developed an osteoporosis treatment, PTH-CBD, that binds to the bone and stimulates new bone growth. “I’m very excited to join the BiologicsMD team at this very important stage in advancing the company’s lead development drug, PTH-CBD, towards the clinic,” Owens said in a news release. [Read more…]

Sam Walls Retires As CEO Of Arkansas Capital Corp.

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Sam Walls, who served as the chief executive officer of The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group, has retired after 24 years of service. “I truly believe that the intersection of my path with this company was an extraordinary event,” Walls said. “I needed this company and it needed me. And as I enter retirement, my greatest hope is that the culture and personality I have cultivated will carry on and grow.” Under Walls leadership, The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group expanded its lending activities to grow from an organization that managed a small portfolio of business loans to an organization that has facilitated more than $1.4 billion in loans to Arkansas businesses. [Read more…]

The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group Honors Sam Walls for 24 Years of Service

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C. Sam Walls retires from Arkansas Capital Corporation Sam Walls, who served as the chief executive officer of The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group, has retired after 24 years of service. “I truly believe that the intersection of my path with this company was an extraordinary event,” Walls said. “I needed this company and it needed me. And as I enter retirement, my greatest hope is that the culture and personality I have cultivated will carry on and grow.” Under Walls leadership, The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group expanded its lending activities to grow from an organization that managed a small portfolio of business loans to an organization that has facilitated more than $1.4 billion in loans to Arkansas businesses. Walls also diversified the organization to include entrepreneurship education, New Markets Tax Credit allocations, high-speed Internet advocacy and a program facilitating foreign investment in Arkansas. Walls was the visionary behind the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business plan competition, which has awarded more than $2 million in cash prizes to students and faculty since its inception in 2001. [Read more…]

Sam Walls retires from Arkansas Capital Corp. Group

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Sam Walls announcing his yesterday, stepping down as CEO of Arkansas Capital Corp. Group of Little Rock after 24 years. Under Walls, the organization grew from one that managed a small portfolio of business loans to a group that has brokered more than $1.4 billion in loans to Arkansas businesses. Walls also developed the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business plan competition. [Read more…]

Sam Walls Retiring From Arkansas Capital Corporation

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Sam Walls, who served as the chief executive officer of Arkansas Capital Corporation Group, has retired after 24 years of service. “I truly believe that the intersection of my path with this company was an extraordinary event,” Walls said. “I needed this company and it needed me. And as I enter retirement, my greatest hope is that the culture and personality I have cultivated will carry on and grow.” [Read more…]

Sam Walls Retires from Arkansas Capital Corp.

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This is news of interest mostly to a fairly small number of business insiders, I’d guess, but noteworthy. Sam Walls is retiring after 24 years as head of Arkansas Capital Corp., a private business lender that has encouraged business development in Arkansas through a variety of lending and tax credit programs. Details follow. No word on his permanent successor or if Rush Deacon, the acting chief executive, is a candidate. [Read more…]

SGL Group Invests Through Use of New Markets Tax Credit Program

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Heartland Renaissance Fun, an affiliate of The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group, is set to provide $10 million in New Markets Tax Credits to SGL Group’s Ozark, Ark. manufacturing facility to replace the current operations with a new state-of-the-art graphitization process for the manufacture of graphite electrodes, which are used for the production of steel in electric arc furnaces. The $10 million New Markets Tax Credit financing is part of a $26 million overall investment at the plant. This investment will yield cleaner technology, reduce energy consumption by approximately 20% and have a considerable impact on the competitive position of SGL Group, as well as allow the company to retain jobs and strategically position themselves for the future in Ozark. SGL Group’s Ozark plant, which began operations in 1981, employs more than 90 people with substantially higher wages than the average of Franklin County. [Read more…]

Heartland Fund of Little Rock Invests $10M in SGL’s Ozark Plant

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Heartland Renaissance Fund of Little Rock announced Tuesday that it will invest $10 million in a new SGL Group facility in Ozark. SGL manufactures graphite and carbon electrodes and other carbon-based products. Its Ozark operation, opened in 1981, employs roughly 90. Heartland’s investment is a part of a $26 million overhaul of the Ozark plant, announced in April, that it says will replace current operations with a state-of-the-art graphitization process for the manufacture of graphite electrodes, used for the production of steel in electric arc furnaces. The new plant is expected to be completed by June 2015. [Read more…]