The new head of the Small Business Administration says she hopes to make changes to the agency that, she said, will help even more small businesses devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview with the Associated Press on Friday, two days after taking office, Isabella Casillas Guzman said her immediate focus is on implementing the small business provisions of the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package that President Joseph Biden signed it last week.
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The country has lost 400,000 companies since the start of the pandemic, said Guzman, warning that “many more are at risk”.
Isabella Casillas Guzman, left, takes a ceremonial oath as a Small Business Administration Administrator in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Monday, March 22, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Pat
Guzman hopes that small business provisions in the rescue package will help, including $ 10 billion to support state loans to companies and $ 100 million for a new program called Community Navigator, which aims to provide education and advice to distressed business owners. . But, she said, more coronavirus vaccines and the $ 1,400 stimulus payments that millions of Americans are receiving will also help companies, helping to recover the economy.
These are indirect aid programs. The rescue package also included direct aid in the form of additional money for the Salary Protection Program and more than $ 28 billion in donations to restaurants affected by government-ordered closings during the virus outbreak.
Guzman already knows how the SBA works, having been the agency’s deputy chief of staff during the Obama administration.
“We will be looking at our general programs to see a way forward for small businesses,” she said. Guzman acknowledged that the role of the SBA has changed dramatically as a result of the pandemic; she said the agency has received attention it has never had in the past.
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The focus of SBA’s loan last year was the PPP, which approved nearly 8 million loans worth more than $ 700 billion. Before the pandemic, the agency’s main lending vehicles were its 7 (a) and 504 programs, which homeowners turned to for loans to start and build their businesses. These traditional lending programs may undergo some changes, said Guzman.
The administrator’s agenda also includes enhancing SBA technology to make it more accessible to businesses; she noted that many companies have adopted or updated their technology to survive the virus outbreak.
“We just need to make sure that we modernize the SBA,” she said.
Isabella Casillas Guzman said her immediate focus is on implementing the small business provisions of the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package that President Joseph Biden signed last week. (FILE)
The SBA plans to use the Community Navigator to collect information to help it determine what changes it needs to make, said Guzman. The program aims to work with community financial institutions and Small Business Development Centers sponsored by the SBA to help distressed and disadvantaged companies.
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“This will provide us with strong feedback from small businesses on what their needs are,” said Guzman.
Prior to joining the SBA, Guzman also served as director of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate. She has held positions at companies such as ProAmerica Bank, a commercial bank in California, and GovContractPros, a consulting firm based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, which she co-founded.