As part of her two-day visit to Savannah, U.S. Small Business Administration District Director Terri Denison spoke Tuesday at Savannah State University, where she and university Provost Reynold Verret signed an agreement to work together to promote small business entrepreneurship.
The Strategic Alliance Memorandum highlights the SBA’s continued commitment to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for historically black colleges and universities and to support minority-owned businesses, Denison said.
“But this document is really just a formality,” she said. “Let’s roll up our sleeves and find opportunities to move forward in collaboration.”
Verret, who is also SSU’s vice president for academic affairs, said the university was more than ready to do just that.
“This agreement is an example of the faith SBA has in the coastal region,” Verret said, adding that SSU already has a nonprofit community development organization focused on economic development within and outside of the university.
Savannah State, the oldest public historically black university in the state, “develops productive members of a global society through high quality instruction, scholarship, research, service and community involvement,” Verret said.
The memorandum signifies a joint effort by Savannah State and the SBA to share resources and promote small business through education, community outreach and awareness of SBA resources afforded to local minority business interests.
The SBA is a federal agency designed to support economic development through small business creation and maintenance, Denison said.
“We are mainly about providing what I call the three C’s,” she said — access to capital, counseling and training, and contracting assistance.
While the SBA no longer provides direct loans, the agency offers guarantees on loans, reducing risk to the lender and often lowering down payments.
“We also support micro-loans of up to $50,000 and have a guarantee program for surety bonds,” she said.
Counseling and training are as important — if not more so — than financing, Denison said.
“And we are extremely fortunate in the Savannah area to have great partners such as SCORE and the University of Georgia’s Small Business Assistance Corp.,” she said.
Denison’s agency also offers contracting assistance, helping small businesses take advantage of federal procurement programs.
“There are a lot of opportunities for small businesses as sub-contractors in larger contracts,” she said. “But you have to be certified and sometimes willing to do joint ventures.”
Among those on hand to hear about the joint agreement was Savannah State senior business management major Jacob Hicks.
“I graduate next month and begin a management training program with Sam’s Club two days later,” he said.
Hicks, who participated in the Black Executive Exchange Program sponsored by the National Urban League, said spending time with Fortune 500 minority executives was “more than enough incentive to stay in school and get my degree.
“I really believe I will own my own business one day and it’s good to know there are lots of resources out there to help.”
ON THE WEB
For more information on ways the U.S. Small Business Administration can help entrepreneurs and established small businesses, go to www.sba.gov/ga.