New SBA Leader on Entrepreneurial Equality and Making Small Business ‘A Big Deal’

Tasked with taking the Small Business Administration (SBA) to the next level, Maria Contreras Sweet, the new head of the agency, envisions a modern SBA with a greater focus on inclusion. Contreras Sweet outlined steps to achieve her vision earlier this week in a speech at the Center for American Progress.

An immigrant from Guadalajara, Contreras Sweet spoke about her humble beginnings as a child in the U.S., and her climb to a leadership position in the president’s cabinet. Referring to the changing demographics of the American entrepreneur, she said more faces today belong to women, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, seniors, and the socially or economically disadvantaged. Several initiatives discussed during her speech are geared toward making the agency work better for the diverse population it serves.

Contreras Sweet outlined three initial efforts to advance SBA’s work on behalf of entrepreneurs, promote inclusion and modernize the agency.

To modernize capital access programs through technology, the agency will switch to a new and smarter business credit-scoring model, making it less time-intensive for banks to do business with the SBA. The new system is credit-based, and according to Contreras Sweet, will ensure that risk characteristics and not socioeconomic factors determine creditworthiness. A new “SBA One” lending platform also will be implemented to allow for the automation of uploading documents and electronic signatures.

The agency’s second priority area is tailoring programs that are responsive to the nation’s diversity. Contreras Sweet noted that lending to African American entrepreneurs is up 29 percent over last year. To build an expanded capital pipeline, SBA intends to continue facilitating partnerships with microlenders and CDFIs, a primary technical assistance provider for underserved borrowers. This year, the agency also intends to counsel and train 15,000 transitioning service members through the Boots to Business Program and expand the program across 12 cities beginning this summer.

Further, Contreras Sweet spoke about SBA’s new accelerator competition to help launch startups in Middle America (see related Digest story). She also announced a new Scale-Up America initiative that will help firms in 14 underserved communities gain market intelligence through business consulting and matchmaking with corporate and government buyers.

The third priority area is opening new areas of business opportunity for small companies and helping small companies compete globally. She added that all programs outlined during the speech are paid for with existing appropriations from Congress and do not require new revenue sources.