Karen Mills

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration today issued the following statement by SBA Administrator Karen Mills on today’s proposal by President Barack Obama to raise the maximum loan size for SBA-backed loans to small business:

“America’s 29 million small businesses have been hard hit in this recession. Nine months ago, President Obama sent small businesses a life line: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Since then, the SBA has supported more than 33,000 loans for a total of almost $13 billion in small business lending. This has helped save or create tens of thousands of jobs.

“But there is much more work to be done, which is why President Obama today pledged his support for legislation that would increase the maximum size of some SBA loans. Increasing maximum loan sizes will allow the SBA to ensure that more small business owners and entrepreneurs can get access to the credit they need to expand their operations and create jobs.

“The President also announced additional support from the Treasury Department for smaller community lenders that are committed to increasing their lending to small businesses. Secretary Geithner and I will host a conference on small business lending with Members of Congress, regulators, lenders and the small business community. The conference will discuss additional efforts that can be taken to provide small businesses with access to credit. These steps, coupled with SBA’s ongoing efforts, will help small businesses grow and create jobs throughout America.”

Specifically, President Obama called for:

• Increasing the size of SBA’s 7(a) loan from $2 to $5 million.

• Increasing the size of SBA’s 504 loan from $2 to $5 million for standard borrowers (supporting a total project of $12.5 million) and from $4 to $5.5 million for manufacturers (supporting a total project of $13.75 million).

• Increasing the size of SBA’s Microloan from $35,000 to $50,000.

A copy of the President’s remarks and a fact sheet on the announcement can be found at:
http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/sba_rcvry_obama_evnt_remrks09.pdf

A fact sheet on the proposal can be found at:
http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/sba_rcvry_new_effort_credit_sb.pdf

SBA Teams with Count Me In to Promote Women’s Entrepreneurship

Related links:
Small Business Administration: www.sba.gov
SBA Women’s Business Center of Northern Virginia: www.cbponline.org
Count Me In Website: www.makemineamillion.org

WASHINGTON ─ The U.S. Small Business Administration and Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence (CMI) launched a cooperative Strategic Alliance Memorandum to promote opportunities for women entrepreneurs through education, training and counseling.

The launch, held in Washington, D.C. at SBA’s headquarters, also recognized Women’s Small Business Month.

The alliance between SBA and CMI will help to strengthen and expand small business development opportunities, particularly those to women entrepreneurs. The alliance is intended to promote collaboration on the development of resources and information to benefit the needs of the small business community, and of women-owned small businesses. SBA and CMI will develop a joint podcast on business start-up and financing, as well as a Web chat on small business issues affecting women entrepreneurs.

“SBA shares a common mission with Count Me In to help encourage more women to be entrepreneurs and to give them the tools to succeed as business owners,” said SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills. “Coordinating efforts with this tremendous organization will help to ensure that we reach even more women-owned small businesses.”

Speakers at the event included Administrator Mills and Nell Merlino, president and CEO of Count Me In. They addressed an audience of small business owners, local business women and SBA employees, and recognized oovoo design, a woman-owned small business that has thrived during the challenging economy.

Nell Merlino

Pauline Lewis, owner of oovoo design, is a wholesaler of unique handbags and a past recipient of CMI’s Make Mine a Million $ Business Award that encourages women entrepreneurs to increase their revenues and develop their businesses. Lewis received counseling and training for her business from the SBA’s Women’s Business Center of Northern Virginia. The center is part of a network of more than 100 WBCs that provide education and training to help women start and grow small businesses. Barbara Wrigley, executive director of the Women’s Business Center of Northern Virginia, was also highlighted during the event.

For more information on how SBA can help you start or grow your business, visit www.sba.gov and follow SBA announcements on Twitter @SmallBusinessAd.

It seems the U.S. economic recovery may be largely driven by small businesses.

Small companies represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms in the U.S. and employ just over half of private-sector workers, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). But analysts say the key to these firms’ success will be their ability to find funding during the coming months.

Small businesses and entrepreneurs typically need loans to finance new equipment, personnel, marketing and other matters. Such was the case for entrepreneur Dr. Justin Kim, whose eye care center was sorely in need of working capital to increase marketing efforts. Like many other small-business owners, Dr. Kim took advantage of new loan provisions set forth by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. They eliminate some borrower fees on SBA’s largest loan program-the 7(a) program-and increase guarantees up to 90 percent.

Analysts say the fee elimination means more capital will be available to businesses at lower costs, while increasing guarantee levels will help provide banks with the greater confidence they need to extend credit during the economic crisis.

Before the recovery act, a typical 7(a) loan of $300,000 carried a guarantee fee of between 2 and 3 percent. That same loan today, with the new 90 percent guarantee and the temporary fee elimination, would save a borrower about $8,100. In total, the new provisions are expected to support approximately $8.7 billion worth of 7(a) loans.

Finding Financial Support

Generally, SBA-backed loans provide a key source of financing for viable small businesses that have real potential but cannot qualify for loans from traditional sources. The loans are provided and funded by participating banks and other lenders.

To borrow, a business must be established for profit and must also meet SBA’s size standards for a small business, among other requirements. To qualify for an SBA 7(a) guarantee, a small business must also meet the lender’s criteria and the 7(a) program requirements. In addition, the lender must certify that it could not provide a loan under the proposed terms and conditions without the 7(a) guarantee.

Help Where It’s Needed

Many of the loans that SBA backs go to underserved markets. In fact, the administration’s loans are more likely to go to a business that might be minority owned, woman owned or located in an area with lower income and higher unemployment than conventional bank loans.

June Gold is one of the many female business owners who qualified for financing under the new provisions. The president of a software and program development firm, she was originally turned down for a $500,000 loan by a bank after her husband and company founder, Steve, suddenly died. The funding was denied despite contracts between Gold’s firms and two large pharmaceutical companies, leaving her in need of money to hire skilled staff and continue marketing her products.

Her luck changed when she chanced upon a workshop that directed her to a bank in the area that handles SBA loans.

“They found a way to make it happen,” says Gold. With her $400,000 7(a) loan, she hired a seasoned salesperson and is expanding operations. Last year, her company posted $1.2 million in sales.

To learn more, for a list of approved lenders or tips on starting a business, visit the Web site www.sba.gov.

A new lending program could make working capital more affordable for many small businesses.

The SBA backed research to better understand the effects formal entrepreneurship education was having on students after graduating titled:

Toward Effective Education of Innovative Entrepreneurs in Small Business: Initial Results from a Survey of College Students and Graduates

The SBA released this 40-page research paper today that covers the initial results of the study. You can find it on our Website: http://izit.com/library/entrepreneur-education

Here is a summary of the paper from the SBA Office of Advocacy:

Purpose of Study

Entrepreneurship education has become more commonplace in academia in the past few decades. It is important for researchers and policymakers to more fully understand the outcomes of these students so that we can better tailor future curricula needs accordingly. This paper discusses initial results from a survey funded with a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation challenge grant. The survey was designed and conducted by a team of researchers from the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stern School of Business and the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, both at New York University. The study analyzes these data to provide some initial results that indicate whether and the extent to which courses that cover entrepreneurial topics influenced future participation in entrepreneurial activity, particularly in small business, by survey participants.
More precisely, the central purpose of this study is to focus on one critical subject: how prospective innovative entrepreneurs can be trained most effectively. It investigates the relationship between the educational experiences of subjects studied and their subsequent innovative performance.

For this first pilot study, five universities participated, three private universities in the Northeast and two public research universities in the South and Southwest. Another round of surveys is planned for 2010 and will involve additional universities in the United States, as well as universities in Europe, China, and the Middle East. Lessons from these preliminary findings will be helpful in designing these future surveys, allowing the researchers to delve deeper into some of these issues.

Overall Findings

Graduates who have taken entrepreneurship courses are significantly more likely to select careers in entrepreneurship, which the authors define as ever founding, having run, or having been employed in a start-up or entrepreneurial team. This finding should not be surprising, given that students interested in entrepreneurship would be more likely to enroll in such coursework. The survey results tend to suggest that this coursework might improve students’ abili- ties to identify and take advantage of new innovative opportunities. Further study may succeed in teasing out many of these relationships.

Highlights

• Taking an entrepreneurship course as part of an undergrad or MBA program significantly increases the odds of later founding or working for an entrepreneurial organization.

• Having a parent involved in entrepreneurship also tends to increase the likelihood that the respondent has founded or worked for an entrepreneurial organization.

• The authors found no statistical relationship between a student’s grade point average or SAT score and their propensity for involvement in an entrepreneurial organization.

• Students who took an entrepreneurship class were more likely to have engaged in three sepa- rate types of “innovation”: (1) offering new products or services, (2) obtaining patents or copyrights, and (3) using production techniques that differ from those of the industry’s main competitor.

• The survey results suggest that there is a strong correlation between respondents having taken an entrepreneurial course and their self-reported skill in identifying new business-related opportunities.

• As this project moves forward, the research team plans to focus on providing data that will help instructors train prospective innovative entrepreneurs more effectively. In particular, the team wants to identify the educational approaches that will stimulate students’ creativity and alertness to promising technological developments and other opportunities for innovation.

We have posted the 40-page report on our Website: http://izit.com/library/entrepreneur-education

Press release: Washington

The Obama Administration today reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that minority-owned and small businesses, including women- and veteran-owned businesses, have greater access to federal government contracting opportunities.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Small Business Administrator Karen Mills announced a government-wide plan that includes federal agency procurement officials holding or participating in more than 200 events over the next 90 days to share information on government contracting opportunities, including those available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“Small and minority-owned businesses must play a significant role in our efforts to restore economic growth. Small businesses employ half of the nation’s private sector workforce; create a large share of the Nation’s new jobs; and introduce many groundbreaking ideas into the marketplace,” President Barack Obama said. “It is essential that we provide our Nation’s small businesses with maximum practicable opportunity to participate in Federal Government contracting.

“In order for the Federal Government to better meet or exceed the goal of 23 percent of prime contracts for small businesses, Vice President Biden and I have tasked Small Business Administrator Karen Mills and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke with leading a federal government-wide initiative to increase outreach,” Obama continued. “Over the course of the next ninety days agency officials will take an important step forward by holding or participating in more than two-hundred events focused on sharing information on government contracting opportunities.”

“In these tough economic times, the Recovery Act is providing billions of dollars in opportunity and incentives to help businesses grow – and the President and I are committed to ensuring that small and minority-owned businesses are part of our economic recovery every step of the way,” said Vice President Joe Biden. “By taking advantage of the expertise of an array of companies, we are going to be able to build a stronger, more secure foundation for long-term economic growth.”

“It has been a priority from day one of this administration to ensure that small and minority-owned businesses are aware of and have access to federal contracts and funding opportunities,” Locke said. “Over the past 40 years, minority-owned businesses have grown from 300,000 to nearly 4 million today. Their success and the success of small American businesses are vital to our economic recovery.”

“Government contracts can play a key role in helping small businesses turn the corner in terms of expansion and job creation,” Mills said. “But make no mistake, the benefits the government receives are equally as impressive – working with small businesses allows the federal government to work with some of the most innovative companies in America – with direct line to CEO”.

As part of the Commerce-SBA initiative, over the next 90 days:

• Federal agency procurement officials will hold or participate in more than 200 events to share information on government contracting opportunities, including those available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

• SBA and Commerce will expand their outreach to fellow contracting officials across the federal government, passing along best practices for outreach and education to every agency to ensure they have the tools they need to meet their annual contracting goals.

• Locke and Mills will promote small business contracting opportunities in remarks, events and discussions with small business groups across the country, including minority, women and veteran groups.

Beyond the next 90 days, Commerce and SBA will support, monitor and track the impact of these efforts going forward to help ensure the Administration is maximizing opportunities for small businesses.

Small business owners can find out about federal contracting opportunities by visiting www.fedbizopps.gov. Local Commerce and SBA officials are also available in local offices across the country to assist small businesses interested in contracting opportunities. Contact information for local offices can be found www.commerce.gov and www.sba.gov.

For more information about CheddarGetter features TechCrunch has a good write-up on them: CheddarGetter article, and be sure to visit their Website: CheddarGetter

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced the appointment of Jeanne Hulit, as the regional administrator in Region I, to oversee the SBA’s programs and services in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Information: Region I

Marianne O’Brien Markowitz was named Regional Administrator for Region V and will oversee the SBA’s programs and services in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Region V

Overseeing Region VI will be Yolanda Garcia Olivarez. Region VI covers Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Region VI

The fourth to be named is Daniel Hannaher. As Regional Administrator for Region VIII Hannaher will oversee the SBA’s programs and services in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Region VIII

Vassar most recently served as commissioner and chair for Virginia’s Alcohol Beverage Control Board.  Appointed to a four-year term by Governor Mark Warner in 2002, she directed all aspects of sales and regulation of alcoholic beverages in Virginia.  Reappointed as chair in 2006 by Governor Tim Kaine,
Vassar led underage drinking and driving public service campaigns, and established partnerships with the U.S. Army and the Norfolk Naval Base to provide information to military personnel about the prevention of alcohol abuse and drunk driving.

From 1994 to 2002 she ran E.H. Vassar Enterprises, a marketing firm whose clients included Dominion Virginia Power and the City of Richmond.  Before starting her own company she was director of the Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprise in Governor L. Douglas Wilder’s administration.

The Office of the National Ombudsman assists small businesses when they experience excessive or unfair federal regulatory enforcement actions, such as repetitive audits or excessive fines and other unfair actions by a federal agency.  Established in 1996 with the passage of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, the National Ombudsman’s office collaborates with 10 regional fairness boards, served by 50 small business owners from across the country.

The National Ombudsman’s office also works closely with more than 35 federal regulatory agencies to resolve complaints about excessive enforcement of federal regulations during hearings held in cities nationwide.  Additional information about the Office of the National Ombudsman is available at
www.sba.gov/ombudsman

Highlights:

1. SBIC’s are required to invest 25% in small businesses
2. SBA funding caps for SBICs increased to $225 million for multiple SBICs under common ownership and $150 million for single SBICs,  from $137.1 million
3. An even higher limit of $175 million for single SBIC agreeing to focus more than 50% of effort on low-income areas

Bottom line: Likely we’ll see a lot of new SBICs starting up and with new higher caps and more funds there will be more money flowing to small business.

The SBA press relesase 07/10/09:

WASHINGTON – Effective today, small businesses that would otherwise have difficulty securing private equity or venture capital may find funding easier to get as a result of changes made as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Investment Company program.

“The Recovery Act expands SBA’s venture capital program to increase the pool of investment funding available to the Small Business Investment Companies licensed by SBA,” said SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills.  “We believe those companies will be better equipped by these changes to help sustain and grow small businesses for their next important growth steps.” SBICs are privately owned and managed venture capital firms which are
licensed and regulated by SBA. SBICs use a combination of funds raised from private sources and money raised through the use of SBA guarantees to make equity and mezzanine capital investments in small businesses. There are approximately 338 SBICs with $17.4 billion in capital under management.

Changes made as part of the Recovery Act are:

• The Recovery Act makes SBICs eligible for greater SBA guaranteed funding and requires SBICs to invest 25 percent of their investment dollars into “smaller” businesses.  Also, the amount of funding an SBIC may invest in a single small business is set at 10 percent of an SBIC’s total capital rather than the previous limit of 20 percent of an SBIC’s private capital only. This translates to an effective 50 percent increase in funding available to a single business by an SBIC.

• Maximum SBA funding levels to SBICs will increase up to three times the private capital raised by the SBIC, up to a maximum of $150 million for single SBICs, or up to $225 million for multiple SBICs that are under common control. The cap for all licensees was set at $137.1 million before the Recovery Act.

• These limits are even higher for SBICs that are licensed after October 1, 2009, that certify that at least 50 percent of their investments will be made in small businesses located in low-income areas, up to $175 million for single licensees and up to $250 million for jointly controlled multiple licensees.

• Changes made to the SBIC program under the Recovery Act are permanent. Industry associations have commended SBA for these changes and SBA continues to encourage new SBICs to apply for licensing and actively participate in the program. The SBIC program was created to stimulate the growth of America’s small businesses by supplementing the long-term debt and private-equity capital available to them.  Since the SBIC program’s formation in 1958 through April 2009, it has invested approximately $56 billion in more than 106,000 small businesses in the United States.

For more information about the SBA’s Investment Division and SBIC program, go to www.sba.gov/INV or call 1-800-UASKSBA.

My experience at VerticalNet back in 2000 and 2001 taught me that a stronghold in a niche market does not guarantee business success. Although there may be a fat market operating in an old-fashioned mode there is no easy way to get enough of the market participants to join an online marketplace and create some needed critical mass.

The idea makes sense and no doubt their technology is awesome. But, success will hinge on whether or not they can attract a number of key industry players to the online marketplace to conduct business with it.