Thank you for your interest in applying to Grow NOW, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel’s interest rate reduction program.

GrowNOW will provide up to a 3% interest rate reduction on your bank loan. Small business owners must commit to the creation or retention of at least one full-time job or two part-time jobs in the State of Ohio for every $50,000 borrowed, up to $400,000.

Just three reminders before you get started:

1. In order to be eligible for GrowNOW, you have to secure a loan at an eligible bank. Your loan officer at the bank will need to complete a lender portion of the online GrowNOW application once you have completed your small-business portion of the application.
2. Your small-business portion of the application will take around 30 minutes to complete. Once you begin the application, you will not be able to stop and restart. Make sure you have enough time to complete the application all at once.
3. Your small business must meet the following criteria:
   
   • Must have less than 150 employees
   • Must have headquarters in Ohio
   • Must maintain offices and operating facilities in Ohio
   • Must have a majority of employees be Ohio residents
   • Must be organized for profit
   • Must be able to save or create one full-time job or two part-time jobs in Ohio for every $50,000 borrowed

You can monitor your progress by tracking the leaves added to the GrowNOW tree at the top of the screen. Remember, you can’t stop and come back to this application, so make sure you have enough time to complete the application now.

If you have questions, please contact the Department of Economic Development at any time and we’ll help you through. You can call us at 614-466-6546 or e-mail grownow@tos.ohio.gov.

If you would prefer to apply using a paper application, click here to download the small business application or here to download a lender application. When you've finished the application, you can fax it to the Department of Economic Development at 614-728-7651.

Let's go!