OEDIT Partners with Colorado Company to Spur Opportunity Zone Business Investments to Help Rebuild Economy

The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) has partnered with the Colorado Center for Innovation for Community Capital (CCI4CC) to assist Colorado businesses with obtaining opportunity zone funding.

“Opportunity zone investments to date have primarily been used for real estate deals,” said Mike Landes, Opportunity Zone program director at OEDIT. “With the recent clarifications on regulations of businesses, it is an opportune time to support businesses and for investors who are looking at savings on capital gains.”

For small businesses and low income communities,  access to working capital is a perennial barrier that is further heightened by current economic conditions. The opportunity zones business incentive provides these businesses with a much needed economic tool and OEDIT’s new partnership with CCI4CC helps these stakeholders unlock that economic tool.

Businesses who are or want to build in an opportunity zone can leverage CCI4CC’s resources to help create a pitch deck, draft a pro forma or receive counsel for other needs related to opportunity zone funding. In addition, CCI4CC will connect businesses with its extensive list of investors through its online portal.

Western Colorado startup Proximity received one of the country’s first Opportunity Zone business investments in August 2019 and on May 2, 2020, Colorado Outdoors announced it had received a $1 million business investment.

“Opportunity Zones hold the potential for significant economic growth and this partnership offers an extra level of support that can spur additional OZ business investments while providing a template for other businesses and investors across Colorado,” Landes added.

More information and an application can be found at Colorado Opportunity Zone Capital Accelerator Program page.

The federal Opportunity Zone (OZ) program was enacted in 2017 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to address uneven economic recovery in communities across the country.  The program provides a federal tax incentive for investors to invest in low-income urban and rural communities by means of a deferral, reduction or potential elimination of certain federal capital gains taxes.

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