The Small Business Administration (SBA) partnered with the Augusta Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and the Greater Augusta Black Chamber of Commerce (GABC) to offer information on disaster relief and other pro-business initiatives to business owners locals, Wednesday afternoon.
The partners had originally fixed The Small Business Recovery Workshop will be held in the Beazley Room of the Municipal Building at 535 Telfair St. Amid the snowy weather, the workshop, free and open to the public, was reorganized as a virtual seminar via Zoom.
SBA Public Affairs Specialist Brian Beard was among the webinar speakers and told about 20 attendees about his disaster relief loans for both landlords and tenants seeking compensation for physical damages (up to $500,000) and businesses seeking to mitigate financial damage due to Helene, up to $2 million.
Barba included the latest loan request in his speech deadline extension for storm-affected Georgia and South Carolina counties on Feb. 7, as well as the roughly two-month grace period during which aid applicants can still apply for loans.
“As of February 7, you’ll still have another 60 days to apply for a loan, but you’ll probably have to do it online,” Beard explained, noting that since Augusta was among the areas in Georgia that got some of the most severe damage , the disaster relief center at the HUB for Community Innovation, 631 Chafee Ave., may be among the last such centers to close. “Because our disaster recovery centers tend to start closing close to the deadline. We had one open in Fulton County most recently, so it will probably continue until the deadline… But that decision is made by the state emergency management and FEMA.”
Eric Frickey, senior business consultant at the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (SBDC), reminded participants that the Augusta office on Davis Road is available to help business owners navigate various federal aid opportunities and how to apply them to their financial situations.
“We help them … make sure they have the ability to repay that loan,” Frickey said, explaining that consultants, when examining clients’ financial status, can find funds available that they didn’t know about, such as accounts receivable yet to be collected. . , or assets that do not produce income and can be liquidated. “We want to make sure our small business owners can qualify for these loans and have the ability to repay them appropriately.”
Terri Denison, director of the SBA Georgia District Office, gave a presentation on other non-disaster programs the agency offers for businesses, focusing on three categories: access to capital, advice and educationand federal contracting assistance.
While the SBA does not offer grants directly to small businesses to finance operations, Denison said, SBA capital access programs do offer microloans of up to $50,000 (although the average loan size is about $13,884) funded by community organizations with for profit; 7(a) loans, up to $5 million, 504 loans from SBA-approved commercial lenders, and even guaranteed loans.
“Basically, when we guarantee a loan, we say that if something goes wrong with that loan and the lender did everything they were supposed to do, closing it properly, servicing it properly, we will refund them the agreed-upon percentage of the loan. balance of that loan,” Denison said.
For more information, visit https://lending.sba.gov.
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Contact him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
