Thank you, Stu for that warm introduction.
And congrats to Alan, and Ruwan for leading this summit.
It is a great pleasure for me to be here with my fellow Wharton alums. My time at PENN was incredibly rewarding … it’s where I learned that great ideas can truly come from anywhere, and how to balance thinking outside the box with real world economic realities.
I reflect that I in essence have been on the entrepreneurial journey all my life, starting as a young child when my father took me with him to work at the chain of veterinary hospitals he launched in Southern California. I was always captivated at the tight knit relationship he had with his clients and community – that defines the fabric of our neighborhoods. As I grew up, and started working alongside him after school and on the weekends, I learned valuable lessons that I carry with me through today – and were critical to helping me in my ventures.
I learned the entrepreneurial mindset – the ability to be agile and learn continuously … the willingness to refine the path … adapt and sometimes reimagine your dream to deal with ever-changing realities around you.
The all-in approach to working hard and persevering … regardless of setbacks.
These lessons are replicated in millions of small businesses across the country, and it’s these same lessons that helped so many get through the COVID pandemic.
As the lead on small business in CA, the 5th largest economy in the world, and, now, as the voice for America’s 30 million small businesses and innovative startups, I’ve seen how our nation’s entrepreneurs have pivoted and adapted to the changing marketplace throughout this once-in-a-generation pandemic and economic crisis – adopting technology to find new ways to connect with their customers and deliver their goods and services.
I’ve been inspired by their creativity, ingenuity and determination. And I’ve adopted their approach – directing my staff to be as entrepreneurial as the small businesses we serve -- as we’ve scaled from an agency with a 40 billion portfolio, to deliver more than a trillion dollars in COVID relief to small businesses. And we are still designing, piloting, adjusting and launching or relaunching programs at a fast pace and at an instant national scale to help our businesses reopen.
We’ve done this through forgivable loans, disaster loans, and billions more in debt relief and grants targeted to the hardest-hit industries – all to help small businesses stay afloat after millions were shuttered through no fault of their own.
We’ve focused on reaching those businesses hit the hardest by the pandemic – the smallest of the small businesses and those owned by women and people of color -- who were often left out of early rounds of relief.
We’ve designed and implemented our COVID relief programs to ensure we’re meeting our entrepreneurs where they are … using technology to increase accessibility, streamline our processes and put our customers first.
I’m proud to say that we’ve seen results – with our Paycheck Protection Program for example, in 2021, 96 percent of PPP loans went to small businesses with 20 employees or less – and 32 percent of our PPP loans went to businesses located in low and moderate income, or LMI, communities.
This focus on reaching small businesses who have faced historic barriers to the capital, markets and networks they need to survive -- and thrive -- will be my top priority across all our programs.
I’m fortunate to serve in an administration that has made equity a whole-of-government mandate as this is an issue that is critical to our economy and competitiveness. President Biden and Vice President Harris both understand that great ideas are born anywhere and everywhere … and they believe as I do that equity is important not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it will make our nation and our economy that much stronger.
As we begin to move toward a post-pandemic economy, we’re working to develop ways to reach underserved entrepreneurs in the innovation space to help the United States once again lead the world in the development of pioneering ideas and new technologies.
We’re doing a lot through our existing innovation programs – the SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, or SBIR and its university-based counterpart, Small Business Technology Transfer program or STTR – which together are the world’s largest source of early-stage public finance.
We call these two programs America’s Seed Fund because our goal is to invest in the best and the brightest ideas enabling small businesses to explore their technologicial potential with grants backed by the federal R&D spend and provide the incentive to commercialize.
In addition, the SBA currently manages a portfolio of more than 300 Small Business Investment Companies – or SBICs – with more than $33 billion dollars in cumulative capital and leverage – the largest fund of fund for the lower middle market. Our SBICs invest in a portfolio of multiple U.S. small businesses, in the form of debt and equity, to create jobs, foster innovation and grow our economy.
And, we recently launched our 6th Annual Growth Accelerator Fund Competition with expanded elements aimed at spurring investment in underrepresented communities within the innovation economy at scale.
The Growth Accelerator and SBIR Catalyst programs aim to develop a network that targets the unique needs of pre-revenue, R&D-focused businesses. This year, we’re asking our accelerators to show us what they’re doing to inclusively support underserved entrepreneurs.
We’re also looking for new ways to leverage the American entrepreneurial spirit -- that willingness to be innovative, to adapt and change, to be creative and take risks -- that only became stronger during this pandemic.
I look forward to sharing more about what we’re doing during our discussion.