SBA updates equity action plan to serve diverse entrepreneurs

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has unveiled details of its revised Equity Action Plan, a strategy to address systemic inequalities among entrepreneurs when it comes to receiving government and investor support. .

SBA’s new Equity Action Plan plans to accomplish its primary goals by accomplishing a variety of goals, each of which will provide a variety of benefits to small business owners in underserved areas. help us provide our services in a way that These goals and tactics to achieve them are:

Improve access to loan funds: SBA will register lenders that can reach underserved entrepreneurs, leverage recent revisions to its own lending policies that make it easier to complete the application process, and increase Many loans were given to “Justice Entrepreneurs.”

Improving access to government contracts: SBA works to connect small business owners in disadvantaged communities to federal contracts. Last month, the agency reinstated its 7(J) Administrative and Technical Assistance Program (now called Empower to Grow), which helps entrepreneurs understand and navigate the government contracting process.

Improving access to disaster assistance: SBA will leverage technology upgrades and a streamlined application process to provide more financial assistance to underserved small business owners.

Improving Education: SBA plans to adapt business education and training resources to the unique needs of disadvantaged entrepreneurs.

Improving investor access to capital: New SBA policy increases the number of diverse participants in the Small Business Investment Company program and directs investor capital to prospective entrepreneurs in underserved areas. more likely to be distributed.

The first phase of the Equity Action Plan was first implemented in response to one of the Biden administration’s first executive orders requiring agencies to identify changes to better serve a more diverse audience. SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzmán said in a statement that the president’s efforts have changed the face of entrepreneurship in the United States, giving small business owners from disadvantaged backgrounds the same chance of success as their peers. . “SBA’s latest Equity Action Plan recognizes the tremendous value that diverse entrepreneurs bring to our nation’s economy in terms of job creation, innovation, and competition both domestically and internationally,” she added. “As America continues to enjoy an unprecedented small business boom, the SBA remains committed to advancing entrepreneurship among people of color, women, veterans, and rural communities, and with this latest Equity Action Plan, is a testament to that commitment.”