Page 170 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2021

FINAL SAY
JANITA R.
STEWART
Action Southeast Region Administrator and Mississippi District Director,
U.S. Small Business Association
A total of 99.9 percent of all businesses in the United States – 31.7 million* are considered small, 262,272* anchored
in Mississippi. There are 60.6 million employees of small businesses and 437,242 are here. Suffice it to say, small business is undoubtedly the backbone of America, our state, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast!
Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, challenging just about everybody/ everything on every single, solitary level, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), infused with an unprecedented amount of federal funding, stood up the national and state economies in an all-out effort to help keep people employed and businesses open.
July 30 marks 68 years of SBA – a small, independent federal agency, created
to help people get into business, grow, expand and recover. SBA funds and partners with resource organizations including the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC); SCORE – America’s Counselors; Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOC); and Women’s Business Centers (WBC), two new ones
in Mississippi. They all provide free/ confidential mentoring, counseling, training, management/technical assistance.
Mississippi Coast small businesses can take advantage of any of these available
resources. The Gulf Coast SBDC and a satellite location of the VBOC have offices located within the Gulf Coast Business Resource Center in the old Hancock Bank Building, downtown Gulfport.
The disaster ‘recovery’ function of
SBA is paramount. SBA is involved in disaster assistance at any given time, and throughout the height of the pandemic, in conjunction with SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lenders, approved 27,503 loans on the Coast
for over $1.16 billion to help businesses and non-profits stay afloat, maintain employees. Other pandemic-related assistance still available from SBA are PPP Forgiveness, Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), Targeted EIDL and Supplemental Targeted EIDL Advance, Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG), and Community Navigators. See detailed information on these programs at www.sba.gov/coronavirus.
On the regular business side – in addition to having a sound business plan, etc., access to capital is critical. Outside of having a source of personal means to obtain funding, securing a business loan is the only option available to most.
SBA offers various lending options – our flagship 7(a) Guaranty and 504 programs go up to $5 million, and Microloans up to $50,000. Some advantages of a SBA
loan are longer terms and capped interest rates. Many SBA lenders service the Coast and can be found at www.sba.gov/ funding-programs/loans. In spite of the pandemic, during FFY20 – 3rd Quarter FFY21, approximately $51.3 million in 7(a) and 504 loans were approved for coastal small businesses, creating and retaining 1,605 jobs, with additional funding via microlending activity. I encourage small businesses to sign up for an on-line SBA tool, Lender Match, at www.sba.gov/lendermatch where they may hear back from lenders offering financing within two days.
Another very critical role is certifications and federal government contracting.
SBA oversees the activities of 24 major federal buying agencies relative to their small business and other important socio- economic groups’ contracting. From FFY20 – 3rd Quarter FFY21, $713.8 million in federal contracts were awarded to Mississippi small businesses including awards made by the Navy, Keesler AFB and others. Small businesses are highly encouraged to seek certifications they may be eligible for and take advantage
of federal contracting opportunities – the world’s largest marketplace!
For more information about SBA and its programs and services, please go to www. sba.gov/ms or contact the Mississippi District or Gulfport Branch Office.
170 | August 2021
www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living