Good morning,
Before this past year, in which the coronavirus took more than 374,000 lives and permanently shuttered around 4 million small businesses, few people understood the crucial role of the U.S. Small Business Administration as well as Karen Mills.
"What most people don't know is that this is actually quite an important and powerful agency in terms of programming dollars and influence,” the former SBA administrator, who ran the agency under President Barack Obama between 2009 and 2013, tells Inc. “Because although people would say, 'Well, how big is the budget?' It turns out that the real question to ask is, what's the portfolio of programs and impact?"
Today, that impact is quite large: 7.1 million businesses received some form of aid in 2020 from the agency tasked with supporting U.S. small businesses and entrepreneurs. More than 5.2 million small businesses received a Paycheck Protection Program loan during the first and second tranches of the aid program; 1.8 million businesses received debt relief from the agency and more than 42,300 businesses received a loan through the SBA's flagship 7(a) loan program in 2020.
Some of those numbers could keep growing this year. The latest Covid stimulus bill allots $284 billion for PPP loans, which include a second-draw for borrowers who've already received a first PPP loan, as well as additional funding for the SBA's core lending programs. And Mills, who has been in touch with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, says Biden wants to make small business a centerpiece of his economic policy plans.
Read our story to learn her five top predictions for America’s small businesses in the Biden era, from what form post-Covid economic recovery will take to how the PPP could change banking forever. |
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