Every year, the President honors small businesses and champions of small businesses for their outstanding contributions during National Small Business Week(NSBW). This year, SBA is proud to announce the addition of three awards to honor resource partner staff and volunteer to NSBW. These are the, SBA Counselor of the Year: Small Business Development Center, SBA Counselor of the Year: Women’s Business Center and SBA Counselor of the Year: SCORE.Through SBDCs, WBCs, and SCORE Chapters, the SBA resource partner network offer small business owners over 14,000 touch...
SBA employees had the opportunity to hear from Cathy Hughes, the founder of Radio One, who also serves as the Chair of the SBA’s Council on Underserved Communities. Hughes, who herself started Radio One with the support of an SBA loan in 1979, now runs the largest black-owned media company in the country, and in 2004 launched TV One, a national cable and satellite television network.During the event to celebrate African American History Month, Hughes shared her views on the importance of changing the perception of black women in the media. She...
We are tremendously excited by the recent reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program. The program is an important one to small businesses, each year providing more than $2 billion of R&D funding to innovative small business across a broad range of technologies. After a long series of temporary reauthorizations, Congress voted to reauthorize the program and the President signed the bill into law on December 31, 2011.At SBA, we are now laser-focused on implementing the reauthorization....
Today, SBA Deputy Administrator Marie Johns and Washington, DC Mayor Vincent Gray kicked off a new initiative – HUBDC -- to help District of Columbia small businesses participate in SBA’s HUBZone program. HUBDC is a partnership between the DC government and SBA designed to help small businesses in the District get access to federal procurement opportunities and set-asides. Today’s announcement is the...
Today, the Obama Administration is launching a new online platform, BusinessUSA, to help small businesses and exporters of all sizes find information about available federal programs without having to waste time and resources navigating the federal bureaucracy. BusinessUSA, currently in “beta”, combines information and services from 10 different government agencies through one consolidated website and coordinate telephone support through a single 800#. The site already presents hundreds of business resources, in one place.Whatever services a business...
Right now, small businesses across America pay an average of 18 percent more to provide health insurance than large businesses. While the insurance exchanges included in the Affordable Care Act will bring these costs down starting in 2014, we need to make it easier for small business owners to provide insurance to their employees right now. One important part of President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal expands a tax credit that does exactly that.The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit has benefitted hundreds of thousands of small businesses...
As we celebrate Black History Month, we are reminded of the remarkable men and women who have made an impact in our communities. For me, one of those individuals is my grandfather, an entrepreneur and business owner. My grandfather owned a landscaping company that became the first African American-owned firm in Indiana to win a state contract—for cutting the grass along state highways. My grandfather’s business exemplified the positive role that small business owners play throughout the country. He made a point of supporting our community...
Recently, SBA kicked off the 2012 Emerging Leaders (known as the e200) executive-level training initiative for small business owners in 27 cities, including 10 Native American communities.The e200 is an intensive training program for small companies that have the potential for quick growth and job creation. I’m excited that e200 continues to reach our Native small business communities with training, mentorship and resources to help them take their businesses to the next level. Native American small businesses are an important part of creating a blueprint...
As a former government contractor, I know how hard it can be to succeed in federal government procurement. You face challenges every day as a business owner, an employer, and a service provider.That’s why as the Acting Associate Administrator of Government Contracting and Business Development at the SBA it is a priority of mine to make sure that we provide as much information to you as possible about our efforts to support small business government contracting. We want to provide you, the small business owner, pertinent and relevant information in...
Co-authored by SBA Associate Administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development Michael Chodos.We know firsthand how important mentors and counselors can be in helping an entrepreneur succeed in business. Whether that is honest advice from having walked down a similar entrepreneurial path or unbiased feedback on a tough business decision, mentors are important allies for entrepreneurs to have on their side. A strong mentor can help you identify the right sources of capital. Or a trusted counselor could give you ongoing support over weeks...
