The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Mark Madrid paid a visit to the can do city on Thursday, Feb 29. The visit was intended to close out a Black History Month tour which began on Feb. 1 in Durham, NC with SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman.
Madrid serves as the Associate Administrator of the Office of Entrepreneurial Development and said he was excited to be visiting what he referred to as the “Can Do, Will Do City.”
During Madrid’s time in Fayetteville he visited several SBA assisted businesses. Madrid was escorted by SBA headquarters team members Anna Lucas and Preston Hardge, MPA and the SBA North Carolina District Director Mike Arriola.
The morning included a convening with the team at the NC Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) service center at Fayetteville State University, one of the five UNC HBCUs. Team SBA also visited the Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC), another SBA partner hosted by Fayetteville State. Other stops included visits to Kidzcare Pediatrics, a pediatric medical clinic chain headquartered in Fayetteville, the SBA-funded Women's Business Center of Fayetteville downtown and finally, stopping by Shine-Light, a group home for persons on the autism spectrum.
“We have to meet our small businesses where they are everywhere they are. Mike runs a tremendous office and his team is known around the country,” said Madrid.
The Small Business Administration is in the business of making the dreams of Americans across the nation become a reality and has extended their Memorandum of Understanding with the United States Department of Agriculture for five more years to ensure they are offering the best service possible to our nation's small business owners.
North Carolina has the second largest rural population in the country. In the spirit of serving small businesses no matter their location, Madrid mentioned the federal government’s intentions of improving the high speed internet connections for areas like the more rural counties to better support farmers and entrepreneurs. Along with that, the SBA continues to work to support minority and Black-owned businesses.
“The SBA approved over 4,700 loans to Black business owners during fiscal year 2023 which amounted to nearly $1.5 billion, nearly a doubling since 2020. Despite this fact, the SBA has a long way to go in supporting black owned businesses,” Madrid said. Madrid even mentioned beginning conversations with the Department of Education to implement the SBA’s programs into K-12 education to ensure the small business owners of tomorrow are equipped to conquer.
Their desire to continue improving speaks to their dedication to supporting small business owners by enacting what Madrid calls “The Five C’s” which are access to:
With the presence of Fort Liberty, the Fayetteville business community has a huge opportunity to pursue government contracts and partner with the Department of Defense.
Madrid’s advice to small businesses in the area that seek to win government contracts is to: “Learn all the different kinds of certifications available, learn the difference between working with the city versus the county and the county versus the state, etc. We want our small businesses to be eligible for DoD contracts.”
Madrid also mentioned the difficulties saying “Solo entrepreneurs can feel overwhelmed. Our job is to make sure they compartmentalize. We have to be in front of them for informational sessions. They don’t have bankers and accountant on speed dial. Small business technology and development centers (SBTDCs) can help with cybersecurity needs.”
Madrid understands the plight of small business owners as the son of a small business owner who operated a welding company for over 40 years. Madrid was second in line to serve as a bank president for one of the largest banks in America before deciding to leave around the time of the 2008 Great Recession. Madrid was tasked with closing one of the company’s bank locations and decided to take a step back. After resigning, Madrid took an entry-level chamber of commerce position and said he was “enthralled from the get-go” working with small businesses.
He called small businesses the “giants of our economy” and shared “... It's an American economic imperative to invest in them.”
The Small Business Administration is dedicated to serving small businesses at both a national and local level.
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Learn more about the services provided by the NC District Team at www.sba.gov/ district/north-carolina.
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