Podcast: Panel Punts on Minority Access to Capital

Posted on | May 29, 2007 | 2 Comments

Last week, the Senate fumbled the ball on minority entrepreneurs and access to capital, something I found kind of odd since the entrepreneurs in question cite access to capital as their number two problem, right behind access to health care.

Meanwhile, the House Small Business Committee has sent a bill to the House floor that purports to improve the Small Business Development Center program but would actually saddle the best program in the SBA arsenal with a bunch of paperwork, making them apply for a passel of separate grants to fund stuff they’re already doing. It makes no sense to me but, hey, what do I know?

And that minimum wage increase plus small business tax package finally got passed last week, tacked onto the Iraq supplemental (probably in order to persuade some House Democrats to vote for it). Sadly, though, all of the truly micro-friendly tax cuts I told you about a few weeks ago got themselves stripped from the bill. There’s a lot there for GO Zone businesses and several tax breaks for S corporations. You weren’t really expecting them to go forward with tax cuts that would truly be helpful, were you?

Give a listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

For more information:

Senate hearing on minority entrepreneurship
H.R. 2359: SBA Entrepreneurial Development Programs Act of 2007 (THOMAS)
Press Release: Committee Passes Entrepreneurial Development Legislation
Association of Small Business Development Centers

[tags]microbusiness, minority entrepreneurship, access to capital, entrepreneurial development, SBA, Iraq supplemental[/tags]


Email This Post Email This Post Print This Post Print This Post

Bookmark and Share
Category: Podcasts, Politics


Comments

2 Responses to “Podcast: Panel Punts on Minority Access to Capital”

  1. Susie Johnson
    May 30th, 2007 @ 12:35 pm

    In response to the article by Dawn Rivers Baker in the article entitled “Panel Punts on Minority Access To Capital” – If the current SBIC operating practices is the best functioning portion of the SBA, then, small business in their startup phase will never get any funding. There are proported to be all of these grants in existence for minority and women entrepreneurs. Trying to navigate the government grant system is one maze on top of snother. Each agency loops into another and the loops eventually lead you back to where you first began. And after more than a year of searching and purchasing programs that supposedly have the direct connections to the grants, I am still unfunded and out of thousands oif dollars. The SBA, The Minority Business Office, and Goverment Grant Files are an absolute joke. These agencies are great for those who need to create their business documents. The workshops are superb. When it comes to helping with funding, they are useless. One SCORE representative after viewing my company’s business plan, pppm, and cash flow projections, honestly told me that I was pass anything they could provide. He stated that I could actually teach their classes. They referred me to the SBIC. The SBIC will not consider you because you are not yet operating. they fail to realize that the reason you are not in operation is because you do not have the funds.
    So what do you do when you do not come from a wealthy or well-to-do family, the convdentional lenders will not even consier you because you do not have an operating history, and all of the grants earmaeked for startups are simply inaccessible? There has got to be a better way for the government to give entrepreneurs access to these grants and funds.

  2. The Journal Blogger
    May 30th, 2007 @ 2:10 pm

    Well, for starters, my article didn’t say anything at all about the Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs); my praises were heaped on the Small Business Development Center program (SBDCs).

    And here’s another thing: unless you are a non-profit or a technology company, there pretty much ARE NO GOVERNMENT GRANTS FOR SMALL BUSINESS STARTUPS.

    Really, somebody needs to find a way to kill those government grant rumors once and for all! Whoever sold you those grant programs was, frankly, ripping you off.

    The SBICs are a source of equity financing, not grant funding. Some investment companies will fund startups, but you have to find out which ones. Similarly, sometime a bank will approve a loan for a startup – particularly if you can work your relationship with your banker.

    There is no free money.

  • Meet The Journal Blogger

    Dawn Rivers Baker, microbusiness journalistDawn Rivers Baker, aka The Journal Blogger, is the editor and publisher of The MicroEnterprise Journal, and the self-proclaimed Socrates of the small business blogosphere. See her official bio to learn more.

  • Find Dawn Elsewhere

    Listen to Dawn Rivers Baker on Blog Talk Radio

    featured on US News & World Report


    Small Business Trends Expert

    Contributor, OPEN Forum Blog

  • Connect with Dawn

  • Visit Our Sponsors

  • Categories

  • Archives