Business & Export Assistance Program Success Stories

Mahay’s Riverboat

In 1975, Steve Mahay founded Mahay’s Riverboat Service in Talkeetna and since then he has been hosting countless Alaska visitors on riverboat tours throughout the Talkeetna, Susitna and Chulitna rivers.

In 1997, he was looking to expand his fleet of jet riverboats. AIDEA was involved in the financing of the addition to Mahay’s fleet through the Business and Export Assistance Program with a guarantee to KeyBank on their loan to Mahay’s.

Mountain View Eye Care

Local healthcare has also become available for the rural residents of Glenallen. Mountain View Eye Care was the recipient of backing from AIDEA through a loan guarantee to KeyBank under the Business and Export Assistance Program to provide eye care to the residents of the Copper River Basin. The clinic’s principal, Dr. Grant Humphreys, was the eye clinic director for the North Slope Borough for seven years, providing services in Barrow and all remote villages of the North Slope. This clinic provides the only eye care service in the entire Copper River basin.

Holm Town Nursery

In Fairbanks, the summer days are long, hot and have an almost never-ending supply of sunshine, making for a very productive growing season. James and Marcia Holmes are two Fairbanks residents who know the growing season inside and out. They have been in business for nearly 10 years with Holm Town Nursery, a retail nursery and landscaping business, and were looking to make upgrades. AIDEA stepped in and provided assistance through a loan guarantee to Mt. McKinley Bank under the Business and Export Assistance Program, which services the needs of pre-existing businesses to enhance or expand their current operations.

Ah Sa Wan Restaurant

Through its Business Assistance Program, AIDEA guaranteed $504,000 of a $630,000 loan to Ah Sa Wan Restaurant in Fairbanks. Denali State Bank provided the loan for purchase of restaurant real estate and restaurant equipment. The restaurant employs 11 people.