Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: the SBA Microloan Program
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: the SBA Microloan Program
This spring, representatives of over 163 organizations met in Detroit for a special conference for Small Business Administration Approved Intermediary Micro Lenders.
During the opening session, BCNA was 
delighted to be acknowledged as the third largest originator of microloans with SBA funds in the country. We also appreciated the opportunity to share best practices in lending and providing technical assistance to our clients.
The SBA Microloan Program was started in 1992 by Jody Raskind and has, to date, provided funds to non-profit organizations who have used them to make over 53,000 loans that total over $641 million dollars to businesses that have created over 76,000 jobs and retained over 110,000 jobs as of May 7, 2014.
The event allowed me to reflect on the impact of this program on our own operations; SBA Funds have enabled BCNA to make 1629 microloans for a total of $9.5 million dollars.
- Client Ziaus Bhulyan is the owner of Dynamic
Construction, a business with five full-time employees. An SBA funded loan of $35k enabled him to meet his cash flow needs while waiting for payments for jobs completed (which, in the construction and contracting business can often take up to 6 months to arrive.)
- Client Galina Gotto is the founder and owner of Rainbow Medical Supply, Inc.,
which she created in 2001 with two SBA funded microloans from BCNA along with $10,000 in personal savings. Her business now employs seven full-time and three part-time staff members, in addition to Ms. Gotto. She was was recently honored during our 2014 BCNA Immigrant Heritage Week Awards with the New York Job Creator Award.
- Clients Mohamed and Ismaila Bah are refugees from Mauritania and Guinea who own and manage Noor Hallal American Market, a grocery store that provides hallal meat and groceries to residents in a food
desert in the Bronx. Each of them has received $8k in loans from our SBA-funded loan fund which has enabled them to purchase refrigerators and inventory for their store. BCNA Loan Officer Aaron Lackman is currently in the process of underwriting a $10k loan which will provide the cash flow that they need to operate their business efficiently.
During the last few years, discussions about the role of government have grown increasingly heated. We, like most institutions and individuals, clearly support greater efficiency and the curtailing of bureaucratic waste. We are, however, strongly in favor of expanding government programs like the SBA, that enable for-profit and non-profit organizations to provide more resources to entrepreneurs who are creating jobs and keeping the economy going.
With the news that Jody Raskind, founder of the SBA Microloan Program, is retiring soon, we wanted to thank her for everything that she and her staff have done to provide critical support for so many low to moderate income and minority entrepreneurs over the years. We see every day the positive effect the program has on lives, and on local economies, and salute her and the SBA for making it possible for so many of our clients to achieve their American Dream.