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REDI working to help startups

The Columbia City Council voted to keep taxi stands on local streets.
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The Columbia City Council voted to keep taxi stands on local streets.

Entrepreneurs in Columbia might get a boost from a program being designed to help business startups.

The Columbia City Council last week allocated $150,000 to Regional Economic Development Inc., or REDI, with an original goal of providing loans for new small businesses.

But REDI is instead working with the University of Missouri and the Small Business and Technology Development Center to devise a program that would do more than simply provide loans.

The idea is to offer a program that allows people with business ideas to participate in a summer program offering classes, field trips and mentors on such topics as raising capital and developing business plans.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports part of the program would involve funding, probably with low-interest loans.

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