A business deal on hold: two young entrepreneurs call for end to shutdown

As the effects of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history spread across the country, two Minnesota Republican small businessmen who are now unable to close on a loan want President Donald Trump to “give up” on his pursuit of a border wall.

Back in the summer of 2018, Kevin Servin decided to sell his business to his marina equipment company, Minnesota Shoreline, to his longtime friend, Jordan Irvin, who quit his job in pursuit of a dream of owning the company. The two shook hands on the deal and Servin turned over the operations and revenue of his business to Irvin in October with an expected closing date of Jan. 15.

However, Irvin was using a loan from the Small Business Administration to buy the business, which is now not processing loan applications due to the government shutdown.

A letter from the Small Business Administration loan processor to Irvin noted that his loan would be processed after the shutdown ends.

As a result, closing on the loan is off the table until further notice.

And because Servin turned over the business to Irvin prior to closing and stepped away from any profit that company might net in the interim, the longtime marina business owner said this has left him with no source of income.

Servin said he has been pro-business and an entrepreneur since starting his company when he was 19 years old.

Now the married father of a two-year-old daughter says that he only has enough money saved to support his family for the next two months. If the government shutdown continues past that, he said that he will be forced to abandon his plan of starting a new business and will have to look for other work.

“I do not feel the same support I felt for Trump the day I voted,” Servin said. “This whole government shutdown has made me feel like I need to rethink my support.”

Irvin, 25, also would like to see President Trump back down from his insistence on getting funding for the border wall and reopen the government.

“I was a Trump supporter, and I still am, but this shutdown has gone on for too long,” Irvin said.

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