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U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION –TENNESSEE DISTRICT OFFICE
The U.S. Small Business Administration--the SBA--was established in 1953 to provide financial, technical, and management assistance to help Americans start, run and grow their businesses. With a portfolio of business loans, loan guarantees and disaster loans worth more than $45 billion, in a addition to a venture capital portfolio of $13 billion, the SBA is the largest single financial backer of small businesses.
Last year, the SBA offered management and technical assistance to more than one million small business owners. The SBA also plays a major role in the government’s disaster relief efforts by making low interest recovery loans to both homeowners and businesses.
America’s 25 million small businesses employ more than 50 percent of the private workforce, generate more than half of the nation’s gross domestic product, and are the principal source of new jobs in the U.S. economy. Small businesses also provide 67 percent of workers with their first jobs and initial on the job training in basic skills.
Tennessee’s SBA District Director is Phil Mahoney, who oversees an office in Nashville with twenty-two employees, as well as a recently-opened satellite office in Memphis. Last year, more than $120 million in loans to small businesses were guaranteed by the local SBA office.
SBA’s website, www.sba.gov, is one of the most popular Internet domains related to business in the history of the Internet itself, averaging more than 9 million “hits” per week. The local SBA website, www.sba.gov/tn has a wealth of Tennessee small business information and can be accessed from SBA’s main site as well. Local resources are listed there, such as the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), and the Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC), and these service providers are available to counsel small business start-ups and established entrepreneurs alike. A full workshop and seminar schedule for interested potential entrepreneurs and veteran small business persons is maintained on the local website as well.
SBA’s main role is to guarantee bank loans to small businesses under a program known as 7(a). This loan program was recently revised to allow the maximum SBA guarantee on a loan to be $1 million, up from $750,000. A maximum loan size of $2 million has been established for 7(a) loans. SBA’s popular Low Doc—or low documentation—loan still consists of a one page loan application for amounts up to $150,000; these loans are often “turned-around” by SBA lenders in five working days or less.
The maximum SBA guarantee on loans of $150,000 and less is now 85%; on loans greater than $150,000, the maximum guarantee is 75%.
SBA has also established a Micro-Loan program nationwide—with several micro-loan intermediaries (non-bank lenders) in Tennessee. The newest, Woodbine Community Organization Small Business Program in Nashville, can now lend up to $35,000, up from a $25,000 limit. A complete list of SBA Resource partners, SBA Preferred Lenders and Certified Lenders can be found at the local website, www.sba.gov/tn or in the Tennessee SBA Small Business Resource Guide, published annually, and available by calling the SBA District Office, 615-736-5881.
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Webmaster and Point of Contact for this web site: Melissa Cothron Phone: (615) 250-5323 E-mail: Melissa Cothron |