Winrock International

Winrock International is a nonprofit organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Winrock operates a federally-sponsored initiatives. The Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs (PRIME) funded by the Small Business Administration. This program works with rural entrepreneurs interested in starting or expanding businesses in the sectors of energy, environment, agribusiness products, and manufacturing. We are not an angel group; we do not invest in companies. We can assist Arkansas based companies with some aspects of the commercialization process.

Due to the nature of program funding, Winrock has a few stipulations on the types of companies we can assist.

For assistance through PRIME, companies must be located in one of 47 selected counties of Arkansas: Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark, Clay, Cleveland, Columbia, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Franklin, Greene, Hempstead, Howard, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lee, Lincoln, Little River, Logan, Miller, Mississippi, Monroe, Montgomery, Nevada, Ouachita, Phillips, Pike, Poinsett, Polk, Pope, Prairie, Randolph, Scott, Sebastian, Sevier, St. Francis, Union, Woodruff, and Yell. Companies must be considered disadvantaged entrepreneur, which means the owner, majority owner, or developer of the business must be: (1) a low income person (80% of the statewide area median income); (2) a very low income person (an income adjusted for a family size of not more than 150% of the poverty line); or (3) an entrepreneur who lacks adequate access to capital or other resources essential for business success. A company must also be considered as a "microentreprise" as defined by the Small Business Administration, "a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability corporation or corporation that has fewer than 5 employees, including the owner, and generally lacks access to conventional loans, equity, or other banking services."

Once you have completed the application, our team will review your information and contact you for an initial appointment. The turnaround for a review is about 2 weeks.

• Industrial/Energy