SBA loans propel Houston Netbrands to 300 jobs

HOUSTON – Houston-based Netbrands Media Corp. borrowed $6.3 million to buy manufacturing materials and a 135,000-sf facility in July 2012. The company has increased its employee count from 120 to 300, and it wants to grow that number to 500 by 2014, said CFO Mueen Akhter.

Shipping manufacturing jobs from China — where the manufacturer and online retailer of promotional products had previously operated — to the U.S. was an added bonus to its full-throttle, debt-backed growth, said Akhter.

“Everyone wants their product the next day: That’s our business model, and that’s why we’ve grown. We’re adding 15,000 clients per month,” and that includes everything from Fortune 500 companies to small churches that want to promote themselves on wristbands, Frisbees, T-shirts and the like, Akhter said.

The company is just one of hundreds that took a piece of the $678 million in Small Business Administration (SBA) loans lenders made in Houston last year.

The SBA’s fiscal 2013 goal for Houston is $650 million to $700 million, said Manuel Gonzalez, Houston district director for SBA.