On December 10, 2024, Lloyd Chapman, President of the American Small Business League (ASBL), addressed a letter to Kelly Loeffler, the nominee for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator position. Chapman emphasized the critical need for the SBA to ensure that small businesses receive their fair share of federal contracts, highlighting that over 99% of U.S. businesses are classified as small and contribute to 98% of net new jobs created in the country [b539e38d].
In his letter, Chapman referenced a 2005 SBA report that indicated a significant issue with large businesses being misclassified as small, which distorts the data on federal contract allocations. He urged Loeffler to take action to rectify this situation and to support women-owned businesses, which currently receive only 5% of federal contracts [b539e38d]. Chapman also pointed to a proposal by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that aims to increase federal contracting goals for women-owned businesses to 25%, highlighting the need for greater equity in federal contracting practices [b539e38d]. The ASBL has launched a campaign titled 'Don't Cheat Women' to address these disparities and advocate for more transparency and fairness in the allocation of federal contracts [b539e38d].
In a recent analysis by Rohit Arora, it was noted that Kelly Loeffler, appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to head the SBA, has the opportunity to implement significant improvements in the agency's support for small businesses. Loeffler, who previously served as a U.S. Senator for Georgia, faced challenges during her tenure, including losing a special election to Rev. Raphael Warnock in January 2021 [25bea0c5]. Under her leadership, the SBA supported 103,000 financings in FY 2024, the highest since 2008, with a capital impact that increased to $56 billion, reflecting a 7% rise from FY 2023 [25bea0c5].
Arora outlined six key strategies that Loeffler could adopt to enhance the SBA's effectiveness: protecting against overregulation, focusing on authorized programs, ending waste and fraud, referring borrowers to private lenders, upgrading technology, and expanding outreach to underserved businesses [25bea0c5]. These strategies aim to address ongoing issues within SBA programs, such as fraud in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) initiatives [25bea0c5].
As the SBA prepares for the upcoming National Small Business Week awards, which recognize outstanding small businesses across the country, the focus on equitable treatment for small businesses, especially women-owned enterprises, remains a critical issue that advocates like Chapman are striving to address [b539e38d]. The nominations for the 2025 awards were opened on October 16, 2024, with a deadline set for December 5, 2024 [3a56ec70]. The awards ceremony is scheduled for May 4-5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. [3a56ec70]. The SBA's awards categories include Small Business Person of the Year and Small Business Exporter of the Year, among others, and aim to celebrate the diverse contributions of small businesses to the economy [3a56ec70].