Message from the District Director
 Plan your work and work your plan! Clearly this was the month's theme. As District Director, I am honored to lead the charge for the district with the largest 8(a) portfolio, representing 20 percent of all 8(a) participants in the U.S. I just returned from Cleveland where I met with other District Directors and their Deputies to share economic development best practices and methodologies to improve our community outreach. As for our office, we are in our strategic planning phase, looking at ways we can better deliver our mission; maintaining and strengthening Metropolitan Washington's economy by enabling the establishment and vitality of small businesses. We are working to provide you with an SBA that is Smarter, Bolder and more Accessible. A major highlight in July for WMADO was our support of the tremendously successful launch of the Boots to Business: Reboot program. Needless to say we were proud to be the bellwether and wish the program participants the best of success. I hope everyone has a chance to take some vacation time, to unwind, recharge your batteries, and to spend time with love ones, so you'll be ready to take on the task at hand: the growing of our economy by small business. |
Getting More Loans Into the Hands of the Underserved
By Natalia Olson-Urtecho, Regional Administrator-Region III
As Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administrator's mid-Atlantic Region, it's my job, and the job of the agency, to help as many entrepreneurs as possible access the capital they need to start or grow their businesses. We know we've made gains in expanding our programs, but there is still more to do to make SBA loans available to every business owner who needs one. Underserved communities in particular still have trouble accessing capital they need to achieve their dreams.
When SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet started in April she made clear that improving access to capital for the underserved would be a top priority. That's why, starting this month (July), we're transforming our guarantee process to better serve America's small businesses. We're streamlining our underwriting by making a total credit scoring model we've been testing and refining for over a decade available to all of our lending partners for loans of $350,000 or less.
The SBA total credit score combines an entrepreneur's personal and business credit scores and makes it easier and less time intensive for banks to do business with SBA. This model is cost-reducing and credit-based, and ensures risk characteristics – not socio-economic factors – determine who is deemed creditworthy. Along with this simplification, we're eliminating requirements for time-consuming analyses of a company's cash flow on small loans under $350,000, a step that can delay loan decisions.
Additionally, back at the beginning of the current fiscal year, we set our fees to zero for loans of $150,000 or less – another way to reduce costs for lenders making small-dollar loans. Why does this matter? Because oftentimes, the smaller or newer the business, the smaller the loan. As businesses grow they come back for additional loans, creating jobs along the way. So, encouraging lenders to make more small-dollar loans is good for the economy, good for businesses, and good for our communities.
These changes make sense. They are another step in our efforts to modernize our lending process and bring it up to pace with the high-tech era we live in. They make it easier and less time-intensive for banks to do business with SBA. We're making these changes knowing that it will simplify and streamline the lending process, which will incentivize banks to make more small-dollar loans in order to get more loans into the hands of traditionally underserved entrepreneurs.
We know the key to a strong and lasting middle-class is opportunity for all. The President has made clear that we must grow our economy from the middle out. Key to that is access to the American Dream of starting and owning your own business. By making SBA loans easier and more affordable, more lenders will join our program, more small businesses will have access to our lending products, and more entrepreneurs will succeed.
SBA Awards Montgomery County Chamber Community Foundation grant to conduct veteran small business training course
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is providing support to the Montgomery County Chamber Community Foundation (MCCCF) to provide technical training to veteran-owned businesses seeking federal procurement opportunities. Through a Cooperative Agreement with SBA, the Foundation's National Center for Veteran Institute for Procurement (VIP) will expand and host three training sessions a year (over a 12-month period) to support up to 150 Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) to attend the program.
"We are dedicated to serving the 2.4 million businesses owned and operated by veterans in United States," said SBA mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Natalia Olson-Urtecho. " Military veterans have a unique set of skills and a special kind of drive that makes them 45% more likely than others to become entrepreneurs, and their businesses employ nearly 5.8 million people. The intensive training and discipline they develop while in service of our country gives them an edge." Read more
Are you ready to export? Take an export readiness test
Did you know that exporting your goods or services can result in 10% to 20% annual revenue growth? Did you know that selling to buyers overseas is no riskier than selling to a domestic buyer? Did you know that sales margins on export sales are typically 5% to 10% greater than domestic sales. Did you know that over 95% of the global purchasing power is located outside of the USA?
Well, if you said no to any of these questions and want to learn how to add export sales to your current revenue base, then you need to speak with the export expert. Before you make that call, take an export readiness test by going to http://www.export.gov/begin/assessment.asp. The higher your score, the more you may be ready to export. Typically, companies need to be well established and have a good domestic sales base before they can seriously consider exporting. Another way to determine you export readiness, take a look at SBA's Export Business Planner www.sba.gov/exportbusinessplanner. It is a very comprehensive tool to guide you through all aspects of making exporting a critical part of your business model. So, once you have determined you are ready, contact the U.S. Export Assistance Center to meet with trade and finance experts from SBA and the Department of Commerce.
For you banks; don't miss out on opportunities to finance these export sales. You can see a rapid increase in customer relationships by offering export working capital loans to your customers. You can also offer your customers a wide variety of export promotion and financial services to customers at no cost. By doing so, you can help your customers find and qualify news buyers around the world and finance their export promotion activities and transactions all along the way.
To learn more, contact:
Bill Houck, Regional Manager, Office of International Trade, Export Solutions Group, Mid-Atlantic Region (DC, VA, WV, MD, DE)
Northern Virginia Export Assistance Center
2800 S. Randolph St., Suite 800, Arlington, VA 22206
william.houck@sba.gov
Tel: +1 (202) 557-4063
Boots to Business: Reboot Launches in DC
 From left in the photo collage: Ralph Buchanan, Assistant District Director/ Marketing and Outreach (Acting); Libo Suen, Economic Development Specialist, Veterans Business Development Officer; Anthony Ruiz, Assistant District Director/8(a) Business Development and Marium Eamen, Lender Relations Specialist. |
Amid calls of HOOAH! (Army), HOOYAH! (Navy), HUA! (Air Force) and OoRah! (Marines), the participants and the instructors let you know who they were representing. These enthusiastic chants were just the introduction of the Boots to Business: Reboot program held on July 11-12 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC.
Boots to Business: Reboot is an entrepreneurial education program offered to veterans and their spouses by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in partnership with the National Economic Council Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University. Modeled after the existing Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup program, this program will be offered in 12 U.S. cities in July and August. The curriculum provides valuable assistance to veterans exploring self-employment opportunities by leading them through the key steps for evaluating business concepts and the foundational knowledge required for developing a business plan. Participants are also introduced to SBA resources available to help access start-up capital and additional technical assistance.
The Office of Veterans Business Development, led by Rhett Jepson, and supported by the Washington Metropolitan Area District Office under the leadership of Antonio Doss, rolled out an "all-star" team of instructors to include Melissa Dent and Charles McCaffrey, Maryland SBDC and Virginia SBDC respectively, and Joe Clarke SCORE who provided the bulk of the instruction on each day. The class also included panels on financing and contracting, linchpins to the success of the business owner. But that wasn't all!
The participants were fortunate to hear remarks from SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, who commented on the value of the veteran in today's business sector, and our need to tailor SBA programs to be more inclusive and reflective of changing demographics. Her vision is that the SBA will counsel and train 15,000 transitioning service members through the Boots to Business Program. She explained that the program has been so popular with our troops that it's being expanded. The goal is to make Boots to Business: Reboot accessible to the 23 million veterans who've already made the transition to civilian life.
Special shout out to Libo Suen, WMADO Economic Development Specialist, Veterans Business Development Officer for the tireless hours of coordination and behind the scenes effort so vital to the success of the launch.
WMADO Marketing and Outreach: A Cut Above
By Ralph Buchanan, Assistant District Director/Marketing and Outreach (Acting)
I have the fortune of being able to lead a tremendous group of professionals: the Marketing and Outreach Group within the Washington Metropolitan Area District Office. Economic Development Specialists (EDS) as we are known serve as practitioners directly supporting WMADO's Economic Development charter and role in the local market. This team is dedicated to optimizing the contributions and positive impacts the agency's small business economic development products and programs make to the growth of the local economy served by the district.
 From left: Libo Suen: District International Trade Officer, Veterans Business Development Officer;
Eva Ngai: Public Information Officer;
Alexandra Piotrowski: Special Initiatives (ACA, Emerging Leaders, Assistant Project Manager); Shuraie Mackin: SBDC Project Officer and Women's Business Center District Office Technical Representative, AARP; and Ralph Buchanan, Assistant District Director/Marketing and Outreach, (Acting),SCORE Liaison, HubZone Coordinator, and Emerging Leaders Project Manager. |
The Marketing and Outreach component provides community and business outreach, marketing, communications, training, and development of strategic alliances, partnerships and co-sponsorships to strengthen the delivery of agency programs, resources and services. Additionally, each EDS has additional market duties that affords for subject matter expertise or focus in support of WMADO goals. As we continue to build and maintain a local network of collaborative partnerships with small business stakeholders such as economic development practitioners in Federal, state, and local government, chambers of commerce, business associations, educational institutions, and civic/community organizations, we look to double our efforts toward making SBA and WMADO a vital part of this region's small business development efforts.
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