7 CFR § 4290.320 - Contents of comprehensive business plan.

(a) Plan for Developmental Capital investing. The Applicant must describe its plans and strategies for how it proposes to make successful Developmental Capital investments in identified Rural Areas.

(b) Working with Rural Area community-based organizations. The Applicant must describe how it intends to work with community-based organizations and local entities (including local economic development companies, local lenders, and local investors) in order to facilitate its Developmental Capital investments.

(c) Market analysis. The Applicant must provide an analysis of the Rural Areas in which it intends to focus its Developmental Capital investments and Operational Assistance to Smaller Enterprises, demonstrating that the Applicant understands the market and the unmet Equity Capital needs in such areas and how its activities will meet these unmet needs and will have a positive economic impact on those areas. The Applicant also must analyze the extent of the demand in such areas for Developmental Capital investments and any factors or trends that may affect the Applicant's ability to make effective Developmental Capital investments.

(d) Operational capacity and investment strategies. The Applicant must submit information concerning its policies and procedures for underwriting and approving its Developmental Capital investments, monitoring its portfolio, and maintaining internal controls and operations.

(e) Plan to raise Regulatory Capital. The Applicant must include a detailed description of how it plans to raise its Regulatory Capital if it has not yet done so at the time of application. The Applicant must discuss its potential sources of Regulatory Capital, the estimated timing for raising such funds, and the extent of the expressions of interest to commit such funds to the Applicant.

(f) Plan for providing Operational Assistance. The Applicant must describe how it plans to use its grant funds to provide Operational Assistance to Smaller Enterprises in which it makes or expects to make Developmental Capital investments. Its plan must address the types of Operational Assistance it proposes to provide, and how it plans to provide the Operational Assistance through the use of licensed professionals, when necessary, either from its own staff or from outside entities.

(g) Projected amount of investment in Rural Areas. The Applicant must describe how it proposes to meet the requirements set forth in § 4290.700. An Applicant must project the amount of its total Regulatory Capital and Leverage that it proposes to invest in Smaller Enterprises and in Rural Business Concerns that are not Smaller Enterprises. The Applicant also must describe the amount of its total Regulatory Capital and Leverage that it proposes to invest in Urban Area Investments.

(h) Projected impact. The Applicant must describe the criteria and economic measurements to be used to evaluate whether and to what extent it has met the objectives of the RBIC program. It must include:

(1) A description of the extent to which it will concentrate its Developmental Capital investments and Operational Assistance activities in identified Rural Areas;

(2) An estimate of the economic development benefits to be created within identified Rural Areas over the next five years or more as a result of its activities;

(3) A description of the criteria to be used to measure the benefits created as a result of its activities;

(4) A discussion about the amount of such benefits created that it will consider to constitute successfully meeting the objectives of the RBIC program.

(i) Affiliates and business relationships. The Applicant must submit information describing the management and financial strength of any parent or holding entity, affiliated firm or entity, or any other firm or entity essential to the success of the Applicant's business plan.