.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} When Diane Walters and her family first considered making products from amaranth 25 years ago, they found there was essentially no market for items made from the specialty grain.

Now, as the demand for such allergen-free foods soars, so has the market for the products made by Nu-World Amaranth Inc. The family-owned Dyersville company, which currently employs 40 people, now sells to distributors nationwide and is ready to expand, Walters said.

The company recently received a $670,000 commitment from Renew Rural Iowa, a program initiated by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation in September 2006 to mentor companies and provide capital for rural businesses seeking to grow within the state.

The investment in Nu-World, a combination of equity and a loan guarantee, is the first of many funding commitments the Renew Rural Iowa board plans to make over the next year and a half.

“Our mission is to find a way to say yes,” said David Sengpiel, Farm Bureau’s senior investment manager. “We’ll look at (the projects) and try to evaluate what their financing needs are.” The program seeks to assist Iowa companies with between $1 million and $5 million in revenues that want to increase their sales beyond $5 million over the next five years.

Farm Bureau launched the initiative last year, with a commitment to invest $5 million in seed capital in Iowa companies located in rural communities with populations of 30,000 or less. Subsequent commitments by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Central Iowa Power Cooperative and Iowa Agricultural Finance Corp. have increased the total amount available to $22.5 million.

Farm Bureau partnered with Entrepreneurial Development Center Inc., a nonprofit Cedar Rapids business accelerator, to provide educational seminars and a mentoring program that can lead to a potential capital investment. More than 500 businesses have attended six educational seminars Renew Rural Iowa has conducted throughout the state over the past 12 months. From those participants, 36 have been selected to go through the full mentoring process, and 20 of those are now in the pipeline for investments.

“The mentoring is an ongoing process,” Sengpiel said. “After they go through the seminars, we sit down with them and give them a chance to show us their business plan and talk about their strengths and weaknesses. At that point, we kind of lay out a road map for them to show them what they should be doing, where we can help them.”

The companies being considered for funding represent a broad spectrum of industries, he said, and include two software companies, a metals fabrication company, several food processing companies, a biotechnology company that makes a nutrient supplement for row crops, and some service businesses.

Sandy Ehrig, Renew Rural Iowa’s outreach coordinator, said the program has no intent of superseding other agencies’ roles.

“We try to be conveners of all kinds of resources,” she said. “We have really developed some great relationships and associations with groups like the Small Business Development Centers, who initially, I think, did feel a bit threatened by the program.” Among other partners in the educational forums have been the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Department of Economic Development.

The program fills a role in introducing businesses to potential financing sources, Sengpiel said.

In Nu-World’s case, the company did not have sufficient net worth to qualify for a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “We analyzed and tried to figure out a way to solve that problem, which is very different from what traditional investment bankers would do,” he said.

Renew Rural Iowa’s goal is to provide capital without diluting the owners’ equity stakes in their companies, Sengpiel said.

“We don’t do any good if we put in an equity investment and then force them to sell the company five years from now,” he said. “That’s not what we’re trying to do. It’s a very delicate balance in providing the support they need to grow to the next level.”

Susan Walters-Flood, Nu-World’s president, said her company was introduced to the program by Iowa First Capital Fund, a group of investors Nu-World has been working with.

“We were exploring the idea of getting additional capital so we could grow more,” said Walters-Flood, who joined her parents in the business six years ago after 18 years as a business consultant in Chicago. “But we weren’t looking for just a venture capital fund; we were really looking for the things that Renew Rural Iowa was targeting – economic development for rural areas. That’s important to us.” The company expects to add between 10 and 30 employees within the next three years.

Having a financing partner that understands agriculture was also an important factor in their decision, she said. “Just having that agricultural background was important, and they understand the challenges of the food industry.”

Sengpiel said he’s confident the three-year program will invest its initial $22.5 million within the next 12 to 18 months, and that Farm Bureau will choose to renew the program for another three years.

“And I’m confident that there will be a good testimonial story that would hopefully be attractive to other corporate partners that might want to participate,” he said. “We have gotten a lot of positive response from the other funds, both at the angel level as well as some of the bigger funds.

“I believe one of the most important things for the successful growth of these companies is making sure you get the entrepreneurs to the right person at the right time, asking for the right thing. That’s our goal.”

For more information on the Renew Rural Iowa program, visit www.iowafarmbureau.com/renewruraliowa.