• SBA Report Shows Increased Access to Capital in 2004
• SBA Introduces GO Loan Program to Expedite Loans to Small Businesses in Hurricane Affected Areas
• Women Entrepreneurs: Want to Grow Your Business to a Million Dollars?
• November Member Poll: Finding Financing – What’s Your Opinion?

SBA Report Shows Increased Access to Capital in 2004

This week the Office of Advocacy of The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released a report outlining an increase in small business loans from commercial banks. The study found that loans to small and micro-businesses increased by 5.5 percent between June 2003 and June 2004. “Micro-business access to capital is essential to the small business economy in this country,” said Kristie Darien, NASE executive director of the legislative offices. “Often micro-business owners are forced to fully finance their own businesses because of too few financing opportunities.” The report found that bank holding companies made 67 percent of micro-business loans of less than $100,000 in 2004, up from 64 percent in 2003. The NASE continues to fight for greater access to capital for micro-businesses. Tell your Members of Congress how important access to capital is to you by visiting the online NASE Legislative Action Center at http://advocacy.NASE.org. To read the full SBA report, visit http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/2004.html. SBA Introduces GO Loan Program to Expedite Loans to Small Businesses in Hurricane Affected Areas Hector Barreto Amid concerns that small business owners have not had enough options for regrowth after multiple hurricanes tore through the Gulf Coast region, the SBA is implementing a one year Gulf Opportunity Pilot (GO Loan) Program. Last week SBA Administrator, Hector Barreto, was in the hot seat in a Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing to defend the SBA’s response to the hurricanes. When questioned about the slow pace of SBA loan assistance to small business owners in the Gulf Coast region, Barreto emphasized the success the SBA has had thus far and noted that the disaster relief program was not meant to be an immediate solution, but rather a program for long term development. “It was never designed or intended or implemented to serve as a source of immediate cash on hand or a grant program,” said Barreto. Barreto also defended the SBA's response rates to applications as continuously getting faster and noted that about 55 percent of the applications had been received within the last three weeks. During the hearing, Barreto announced the introduction of the GO Loan program. It is a one-year emergency program where the SBA will provide its full guaranty and a streamlined, centralized loan process to lending partners who agree to make expedited SBA 7(a) loans available to small business owners in the disaster areas. All approved SBAExpress lenders are already eligible to participate without further approval. To be eligible, a business owner must be located in, locating to, or re-locating in the parishes/counties affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The maximum loan amount is $150,000 and interest rates and payback timelines are determined by the lender. Interest rates can be no higher than 6.5 percent for loans of $50,000 or less and 4.5 percent for loans over $50,000. For a full list of eligible parishes and counties and more information on finding an SBA eligible lender, visit www.sba.gov/financing/goloans. Women Entrepreneurs: Want to Grow Your Business to a Million Dollars? Count-Me-In for Women’s Economic Independence and OPEN from American Express are collaborating on a business program, Make Mine a $Million, designed to help women break a million dollars in annual sales. Women business owners who apply and are selected as finalists could receive a year of free coaching from a team of advisors, plus marketing opportunities and access to loans of up to $45,000 to help reach their business goals. Currently, the program is looking for women in the New York metro area who have a business that is at least two years old and has the growth potential to reach $1 million in sales within two years. Finalists and conference registrants will then participate in a day of networking on Friday, December 2, in New York City. Applications to participate in the program are due November 18 and can be found at www.countmein.org. Registration to attend the day’s events is also at the same Web site. For more information on women and entrepreneurship, visit http://women.NASE.org. If you are unable to attend the event, register to watch it on SBTV by visiting www.sbtv.com. November Member Poll: Finding Financing – What’s Your Opinion? Speaking of access to capital, tell us how you have handled the financing of your business. Let the NASE know your opinions by visiting the MyNASE Web site at http://my.NASE.org/. Log in to your free MyNASE Web Account. If you have not set up an account, you can do so at http://my.NASE.org/ with your member number. Let your voice be heard in the association by taking this survey during the month of November.