SBA programs and services 

are provided on a nondiscriminatory basis.

The Small Business

Advantage

MCS-0032 (October 2008) Your Small Business resource

Greensburg, Kan, 2007. A home hit by a F5 tornado that struck and destroyed 

all of the town leaving the residents destitute. FEMA Photo by Michael Raphael.

with federal agencies and major prime contractors 

across the U.S., the SBA helps ensure that small 

businesses obtain a fair share of government 

contracts and subcontracts. 

e SBA has business development programs that 

use federal prime contracts as a tool to help small, 

disadvantaged businesses compete in the marketplace. 

e programs provide a broad range of business 

development support, such as mentoring, procurement assistance, training, financial assistance, and 

other management and technical assistance. e 

goal, however, is to prepare small, disadvantaged firms

for procurement and other business opportunities. 

For more information, visit: 

www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/gc/index.html.

Disaster Preparedness and Recovery

e SBA provides affordable, timely and accessible 

financial assistance to homeowners, renters and 

businesses of all sizes located in a declared disaster 

area. Financial assistance is available through lowinterest, long-term loans for losses that are not fully 

covered by insurance or other recoveries.

SBA disaster loans are the primary form of federal 

assistance for the repair and rebuilding of non-farm, 

private-sector disaster losses, and they are the only 

form of SBA assistance not limited to small businesses.

www.sba.gov

Disaster victims must repay SBA disaster loans. SBA 

can only approve loans to applicants with a reasonable 

ability to repay the loan and other obligations from 

earnings. e terms of each loan are established in 

accordance with each borrower’s ability to repay. e 

law gives SBA several powerful tools to make disaster 

loans affordable: low interest rates (around 4 percent), 

long terms (up to 30 years), and refinancing of prior 

liens in some cases. e interest rate for loans is based 

on SBA’s determination of whether applicants have 

credit available elsewhere – the ability to borrow or use 

their own resources to overcome the disaster.

Also important for small businesses is preparing in 

advance for a disaster. For information on SBA’s 

disaster assistance, visit 

www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.html.

Your Voice in Government

 e SBA’s Office of Advocacy is the 

 independent voice for the small 

 business community inside the 

 federal government, working to 

 ensure rules and regulations do not 

 unfairly burden small entities.

e office also provides research which examines the 

role of small business in the economy and the impact of

government regulation on small businesses. In addition, 

the office takes its direction from small businesses in 

developing policies and legislation to help small 

businesses succeed. For information, visit 

www.sba.gov/advo.

If you feel your small business is facing excessive or 

unfair regulatory enforcement, including unfair audits, 

excessive fines or penalties, compliance actions or 

retaliation, the SBA’s Office of the National Ombudsman may be able to help. e Ombudsman accepts 

comments directly or through regional hearings from 

small businesses regarding instances of regulatory 

enforcement, and then reports to Congress on the fairness of the federal government's actions and 

responsiveness to small business.

For information visit www.sba.gov/ombudsman.
Bobbie Jacobs-Ghaffar and Lesa Jacobs are two sisters who had a 

vision for turning their health care experience into a thriving homegrown business. The recent national Small Business Persons of the 

Year established Native Angels Homecare and Hospice located in 

Lumberton, N.C.

Nicholas “Nick” Christiansen, Sr., is President and CEO of Eagle 

Technologies, Inc., a security management firm and government 

contractor in Lanham, Md. Christiansen is a past Washington, 

D.C., metropolitan area Small Business Person of the Year.

very year the U.S. Small Business Administration

 and its nationwide network of resource partners 

 help millions of small businesses start, grow and 

succeed.

If you’re just starting out, SBA resources can help 

organize your thoughts on what type of business you 

want to open. SBA resources can also help you obtain 

loans and develop your business management skills. If 

you’re already in business, you can use SBA resources to 

manage and expand your business, obtain government 

contracts, recover from disaster, and have your voice 

heard in the federal government.

You can access SBA help online 24 hours a day at www.

sba.gov or visit one of our local offices for assistance.

Counseling & Assistance

Get a head start with business experts who can help you. 

Resources include the SBA’s district offices serving every 

state and territory, nearly 400 offices of SCORE — 

Counselors to America’s Small Business, more than 950 

Small Business Development Centers primarily located 

on college campuses, and more than 110 Women’s 

Business Centers located across the country. For information about SCORE and SBDCs visit www.score.org, 

and www.sba.gov/sbdc for SBDCs. For information about 

Women’s Business Centers, visit www.sba.gov/services/

and choose Women’s Business Centers from the “Counseling

& Assistance” heading at the bottom. 

Special-Emphasis Programs

You may also qualify for special-emphasis programs. e 

SBA serves women entrepreneurs nationwide through its 

various programs and services, some of which are designed

especially for women. ere are women’s business ownership representatives in every SBA district office to help 

women access SBA’s programs and services, including loan 

guarantees, federal contracting opportunities, training, 

counseling and more. Additional information is available 

at www.sba.gov/women.

SBA offers a variety of services to American veterans 

making the transition from soldier to small business owner. 

Each of SBA’s district offices throughout the country has 

designated a Veterans Business Development Officer to 

help veterans prepare and plan for entrepreneurship. e 

Veterans Business Outreach Program provides entrepreneurial development services such as business training, 

counseling and mentoring to eligible veterans owning or 

considering starting a small business. More information 

is at www.sba.gov/vets.

e SBA also features programs for American Indians, 

Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiians seeking to create, 

develop and expand small businesses. ese groups have 

full access to the necessary business development and 

expansion tools available through the agency’s entrepreneurial development, lending and procurement programs. 

More information is at: 

www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/naa/index.html.

U.S. Export Assistance Centers consist of SBA and U.S. 

Department of Commerce staff in a single location and 

provide trade promotion and export-finance assistance for 

small businesses. e Centers also work closely with 

other federal, state and local international trade 

organizations. To find the nearest USEAC, visit www.sba.

gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/internationaltrade/useac/

index.html.

Training When You Need It

In addition to training workshops held by SBA district 

offices and resource partners across the country, the agency 

also features the Small Business Training Network, an 

Internet-based training portal. 

SBTN provides more than 25 free, self-paced courses and 

links to a wide array of information resources. Interactive

assessment tools are available to guide clients to appropriate training. e online training is available 24 hours a day. 

More information is available at www.sba.gov/training.

Find e Regulations You Need 

Business.gov can improve the lives of small business owners 

by providing a simple and efficient means of accessing over 

9,000 Web sites with regulatory compliance information at 

all levels of government—federal, state and local. Business.

gov provides tools and services for business owners to access 

information needed to successfully start and operate a 

business. Features include:

• “Permit Me”—a consolidated search tool for obtaining 

federal/state/local permit and professional licensing 

information.

• Small Business Guide to Energy Efficiency – guidance 

that helps business owners become energy efficient, save 

money and locate assistance.

• Business.gov Toolkit—a “gadget” (a short block of code 

that can be pasted into an existing application) that can be 

integrated into a different Web site of the business owners’ 

choosing to get immediate access to essential online tools 

and resources to help run their business. e Business.gov 

Web site is constantly evolving to provide small business 

owners with the information and tools they need to be 

successful.

You’re just a computer click away from help 24 hours a 

day at: www.business.gov/. 

Financing Your Business

Many entrepreneurs need money to start or expand a 

small business and must combine what they have with 

other sources of financing. ese sources can include 

family and friends, venture capital financing and business 

loans. e primary business loan programs of SBA 

and the equity financing program are:

• 7(a) Loan Program

• Certified Development Company 

 (504 Loan Program)

• Microloan Program

• Small Business Investment Company Program

e distinguishing features of these loans are the 

total dollar amounts that can be borrowed, the type 

of lenders who can provide these loans, the uses for 

the loan proceeds, and the terms placed on the 

borrower. More information about each of SBA’s 

loan programs can be found at: 

www.sba.gov/services/ then select “Loan 

Eligibility” from the “Financial Assistance” list 

along the bottom.

e SBA does not offer grants to individual business 

owners to start or grow a business.

Government Contracting 

and Business Development

e federal government is the largest purchaser of 

goods and services in the world. Although small 

businesses face challenges when trying to win federal 

contracts, the SBA can help small businesses work 

through these challenges. Working side-by-side