Officials point to the economy and the federal stimulus money as reasons for the increase.
Richard Bland and his wife started their Petersburg-based fencing business in 2000, after Richard left the army.
They work with local farmers and residents building fences and also serve as a retailer of fencing materials.
But Bland says it hasn’t always been an easy ride.
“The first year was very rough, I think we made $30,000, and my one employee made $21,000 of it, so that could tell you where we were at right there,” he said.
“But every year, we kept doing better and better. The first three years was the hardest, but we pushed.”
But in 2008, Bland says the business was at a crossroads.
He wanted to expand the business to sell materials, but didn’t have the money to do it.
“We wanted to get bigger,” he said, “the way I look at it, I got another 15 years left in me to do what I need to do.”
Now, the Bland Fencing Company is one of several small businesses across the state benefiting from an increase in Small Business Administration lending.
The business recently received a $350,000 loan through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
And Bland says it was a dream comes true.
“The SBA has done miracles for us,” he said, “everything they said they would do, they have.”
In West Virginia, SBA lending increased by nearly 80 percent in the first quarter of fiscal year 2010, compared to the first quarter of the year before.
The amount of money the SBA gave out increased by more than 300 percent.
Rick Haney is the public information officer for the Small Business Administration in West Virginia.
He says a weak economy can actually lead some people to go into business for themselves.
“When people lose their jobs, they kind of look elsewhere,” he said.
“What they want to do is maybe go back and start a small business.”
West Virginia is not unique in the amount of SBA lending it’s receiving.
Nationally, SBA lending increased by more than 95 percent during the first quarter of fiscal year 2010, compared to the same period in 2009.
“With the money influx from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it provided funding through the SBA to the lenders,” Haney said.
“It gave the bankers incentives, and the small business incentives to apply for loans.”
Since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed, the SBA approved nearly $34 million for West Virginia.
In West Virginia, 186 businesses benefited from the funding, including Bland, who plans to apply for another loan.
“After we pay this note off, we’re going to start up another warehouse somewhere else, to store materials,” he said.
“That’s the only way a business can get bigger. You get at a crossroads, where it’s either stop, get bigger, or get out. And we wanted to get bigger.”