Aida Alvarez, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, enjoys telling audiences that the SBA loaned a record $11 billion last year, up from $10.2 billion in 1996, and significantly up from ’93, when total small-business loans were $7.6 billion.
But what pleases her most, says the SBA administrator, is “reaching out to new markets.”
Since she took on the cabinet-level post 18 months ago, Alvarez has put through one initiative after the other, opening up more loan money for businesses owned by women, by African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Native Americans.
Now, strangely enough, she says her biggest challenge is “creating the linkages” that connect the loan money with these “new markets.”
“Many (minority owners) don’t know the money is there,” said Alvarez during an interview just before signing a letter of intent with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, head of Rainbow/PUSH coalition. The joint effort will aim to increase participation of minority small businesses in SBA programs.
The partnership agreement would include international trade, capital access, procurement and women’s business. The SBA and PUSH intend to work out details and complete plans within three months. Alvarez has already signed partnership agreements with the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the national Black and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.
– Thoughts on bank mergers. The timing couldn’t have been more opportune to ask Alvarez about the effects that major bank mergers might be having on loans to small businesses: Newspapers were filled with coverage of the previous day’s minority protest against BancOne in Chicago for its alleged discriminatory practices.
Alvarez’s reply was nebulous, perhaps necessarily so: “It’s too soon to tell, but there’s a transition underway and there’s uncertainty about how this will affect small businesses in general.”
But Peter Barca, the SBA Midwest region director, had some concrete information. “The lending volume for the Midwest as a whole was down 16 percent in the fiscal third quarter (ended June 30) compared to the 1997 third quarter.”
He attributed that drop “in part to bank mergers. Another factor could be that banks are cash rich right now, so they may be doing more direct lending to small-business owners.”
– On another topic. James Talent, Republican chairman of the U.S. House Small Business Committee, gives Alvarez an “incomplete” on her report card, says the Wall Street Journal. He likes some things she’s done, but he doesn’t like when she strays beyond her territory and gets into welfare-to-work issues.
“There’s a labor shortage out there,” said Alvarez, when asked about Talent’s critique. “Small businesses have identified the lack of workers as one of the strongest impediments to growth. If we can connect the owners with intermediaries who can get them workers and at the same time help the welfare folks, that’s part of our service.”
– Kudos. Loretta Rosenmayer, president and founder of Trench-It Inc. underground construction company in McHenry, is the Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year, designated so by the Women’s Business Development Center in Chicago.
The Rising Star Entrepreneur is Donna Bridgeforth, president and founder of Bridgeforth Wolf & Associates Inc., a corporate gift firm with offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Julie Martines, president and founder of Will Rent Inc., a Chicago-based company that specializes in construction equipment rentals to contractors and municipalities, is the organization’s Women’s Business Enterprise Initiative Member of the Year.
Irrepressible Phyllis Apelbaum, president and founder of Arrow Messenger Service Inc. in Chicago, appropriately receives the Bella Abzug Award, which recognizes a woman business owner who motivates others through her leadership and commitment and empowers women by example.
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Contact Tribune business writer Genevieve Buck at the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. By e-mail at gbuck@tribune.com.
