Last week the U.S. Small Business Administration announced it had renewed its two-year partnership agreement with the Minority Business RoundTable, a national membership organization for minority CEOs, to continue joint outreach efforts to minority entrepreneurs.
The agreement allows the organizations to share resources and educate minority entrepreneurs on how to use SBA products and services.
Since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law on Feb. 17, 2009, minority-owned small businesses have received more than $4 billion in SBA-backed loans, about 23 percent of the more than $18.5 billion in small business lending SBA has supported under the act.
Minority-owned businesses continue to account for about 29 percent of the agency’s overall lending and 37 percent of its microloans.