The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) signed a Strategic Alliance Memorandum (SAM) with the South Region Minority Supplier Development Council (SRMSDC) as part of the Council’s initiative to strengthen and expand small business development in the Birmingham area.
Part of the deal is a cooperative agreement with the City of Birmingham and the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development to open a space for the SBA. Local SBA-backed business development professionals be in Birmingham City Hall once a week to meet free of charge with minority and small businesses owners who come seeking advice and techinical assistance.
The SAM will remain in effect for two years.
The announcement came at a Dec. 10 press conference at Birmingham’s Crossplex facilities, where the SRMSDC held its quarterly economic meeting, as well as showcased three of its top certified minority-owned companies to economic development and corporate procurement professionals.
Cassius Butts, SBA’s Region IV Director, said the SAM is a first-of-its-kind agreement in the city to ensure that existing entrepreneurs and people in the area who dream of owning small businesses will have the support of the SBA and its affiliated services in place to help them acheive their economic aspirations.
“We signed this memorandum to make certain that there is support for the small business community here in the City of Birmingham. This is somethingthat has never been done before. We want to be sure that President Obama’s message about supporting small business” gets out to the larger community through this effort, Butts said.
Butts said SBA Deputy Administrator Marie C. Johns spoke to Mayor William Bell earlier this year about ways the agency could help increase minority and small businesses in Birmingham as part of the White House Urban Economic Summit earlier this year. Chris Lewis, when he became President and CEO of the SRMSDC earlier this year, also urged the SBA to do more to assist the minority-owned companies he served as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to increase small business success.
About 99.4 percent of the economy runs off of small businesses, so making them work puts the nation at work. That’s why the Obama administration raised the SBA up to Cabinet level, Butts said.
Historically, the SBA’s programs are geared to make it easier for banks to lend money to small businesses, which tend to pose greater credit risks than larger, more established businesses. Butts said the SBA loan programs tended to be cumbersome (one application document was 44 pages long) and required collateral. The newer programs are streamlined, taking 11 pages, and don’t require owners to put up their homes as collateral to back their loans. SBA offerings now include micro-loans to assist with start-up costs and equipment costs, among others. “So this is not your father’s SBA,” he said.
Butts said the agency is more consumer friendly and it wants to get that message out to small business owners. The regional office also has a newsletter with the latest SBA news and an app that helps owners determine their financial needs.
Butts also promised to put forth a new five-step plan in 2013 that is part of the SBA’s agenda to help small businesses survive and thrive.
Listen to more the interview with Butts here
Tracey Morant-Adams, Director of Economic Development for the City of Birmingham, said the SBA office will open on the first floor of City Hall in January 2013. Office hours will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information about the operation, contact Andy Mayo in Economic Development at 205.254.2799.
