Business Resources and Incentives

Local Business Incentives and Rebate

Reading Municipal Light Department

Reading Municipal Light Department is a municipal electric utility that offers services in the Towns of Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, and Lynnfield Center. RMLD offers a variety of commercial rebates to help business reduce energy consumption. Programs include rebates for lighting retrofit, equipment, heat pumps, electric vehicle chargers, electrical panel upgrades, solar and wind generation installation among other programs.

Regional Business Assistance and Resources 

Massachusetts Small Business Development Center - Northeast Regional Office

The Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network's Northeast Regional Office provides free and confidential business assistance to prospective and existing small businesses located in the North Shore and Merrimack Valley.  Certified business advisors work with business owners to help them package loans, develop business plans, financial projections, and assemble other documents required by lenders. The MSBDC also works closely with the U.S. Small Business Administration, bankers and government and non-profit lenders to help connect clients with a wide range of financial resources. 

Massachusetts Small Business Development Center - Free virtual workshops and class offerings.

Center for Women and Enterprise

The Center for Women & Enterprise is a nationally known nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people start and grow their businesses. CWE has worked with more than 46,000 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont entrepreneurs since 1995. CWE also operates the Veterans Business Outreach Center of New England (VBOC of NE) that focuses on assisting veterans, active duty service members and their families with starting and growing their business.

Center for Women and Enterprise- Free virtual workshops and class offerings.

Assets for Artists

 Assets for Artists is a program of MASS MoCA that was founded on the belief that artists are key contributors to vibrant communities and thriving economies. This program offers free workshops and capacity-building grants to artists across New England and supports advancing the business and financial goals of their practice to help artists sustain their creative works.

Harvard Transactional Law Clinic

The Transactional Law Clinics (TLC) is a clinical program of Harvard Law School that provides legal assistance to small businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, and community based-organizations. Law students help in the following areas: business formation, contract review and negotiation, commercial financing and leasing, real estate purchase and sales, business acquisitions, arts, entertainment and intellectual property matters, nonprofit formation and other services.

Statewide Business Assistance and Resources

Massachusetts Office of Business Development

Offers a variety of services for businesses and entrepreneurs to start or grow a business in Massachusetts. 

MassDevelopment

MassDevelopment has financed companies of all sizes across the Commonwealth with loans, guarantees, and tax-exempt bonds. Financing can be used to purchase real estate, building rehabilitation, equipment, as well as providing export financing to access global markets.

Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation

The purpose of MGCC is to create and preserve jobs at small businesses, inclusive of those owned by women, minorities, immigrants and veterans. MGCC is a one-stop resource for debt financing for small businesses. MGCC also works to promote economic development throughout the Commonwealth, with special paid attention to business needs in underserved areas, Gateway Cities and low to moderate income communities.

MassHire

The MassHire Department of Career Services oversees Massachusetts's network of MassHire Career Centers that assist businesses in finding qualified workers, providing job seekers with career guidance as well as referrals to jobs and training. 

Massachusetts Housing Partnership

The Massachusetts Housing Partnership is a statewide public non-profit organization that supports and finances affordable housing. It works in concert with the Governor, the Department of Housing and Community Development and the state's other quasi-public housing organizations.

Massachusetts Life Sciences Center

This incentive is offered through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to support companies engaged in life science research and development. 

Small Business Strong

This is a non-profit organization empowered to help women and minority owned small businesses by providing expedited, pro-bono resources ranging from access to capital to consulting, business restructuring, business growth, digital marketing and customer engagement plans.

Federal Business Assistance and Resources

U.S. Small Business Administration Massachusetts District Office

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) helps small business owners and entrepreneurs. The SBA is the only cabinet-level federal agency fully dedicated to small business and provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise for small businesses. The Massachusetts District Office has also published a Massachusetts 2020 Edition- U.S. Small Business Resource Guide (PDF)