NATIONAL

Entrepreneur, Oct, 2000 by Cynthia E. Griffin

Corporate America reaches out to entrepreneurs.

As the number of entrepreneurial firms continues to explode, corporate America is taking notice. And what they see in the way of a huge potential market can benefit you when it comes to growing your business. Following is a roundup of some of the newest offerings:

American Express Blue for Business (www.americanexpress.com/blueforbusiness) is a new credit card targeting individuals who want to launch or grow Internet businesses, or who want to add Internet capability to their existing brick-and-mortar operations. American Express has partnered with such corporations as IBM, Earthlink and SmartAge.com to give Blue for Business cardholders discounts on the necessary services for creating an Internet business, including Web page hosting, Web design and marketing. The card includes a credit line of up to $50,000 and allows users to carry over their balances from month to month.

UPS Capital (www.upscapital.com) offers several programs designed to help entrepreneurs with cash-flow issues.

Next Day Cash is a factoring program targeting firms that have been in business at least one year. Once entrepreneurs establish accounts, UPS Capital will purchase their invoices and initially advance up to 80 percent of the total due. After collecting the money from your customers, the company will subtract its fee and remit the balance to you.

The Global Trade Finance Program operates similarly to Next Day Cash. It allows entrepreneurs to set up export receivables accounts with UPS Capital, which will advance business owners the funds for merchandise once it has been shipped and the customers have been invoiced. UPS handles collections.

Although you don't need to be a UPS customer to qualify for either program, your history with the shipper is evaluated when determining eligibility.

In addition, UPS Capital offers two C.O.D. programs for UPS customers only. With C.O.D. Automatic, when you instruct UPS drivers to collect C.O.D. payments, UPS Capital will automatically wire transfer the money to your bank. Under C.O.D. Secure, UPS Capital guarantees against default on payments. If a check from one of your clients should bounce, UPS will send you the amount minus a fee, and then collect the debt.