Cleveland District Office  

President Biden Appoints Geri Sanchez Aglipay as Regional Administrator for SBA’s Great Lakes Region

SBA Great Lakes Region Serves Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin

As SBA Great Lakes Regional Administrator, Geri Sanchez Aglipay will oversee SBA programs, offices, and operations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Ms. Aglipay is a second-generation American and a daughter of a veteran with over 20 years of experience in workforce, entrepreneurship, and economic development. She is passionate about strengthening collaborative innovation across sectors and industries to create more equitable paths to financial security for small business owners and the self-employed, especially for socially and economically disadvantaged communities.

Prior to the SBA, Ms. Agliipay served as Director of the Midwest Region and National Manager of Women’s Entrepreneurship for Small Business Majority, where she expanded and directed the organization’s strategic education programs, policy, research, and financial development efforts in the Midwest and oversaw women’s entrepreneurship nationwide to address disparities. In addition, she has served as commissioner of the Cook County Commission for Social Innovation, co-chair of Racial Wealth Gap Committee of Financial Inclusion for All Illinois, and on the advisory council of HHS NIOSH Center of Excellence UIC Center for Healthy Work. She is a graduate of Bradley University.

Congratulations to Ohio’s SBDCs: SBA Resource Partners Mark Banner Year 

2021 was a banner year for Ohio’s SBDCs, administered through the State of Ohio Department of Development’s Office of Small Business and International Engagement. The SBA-supported resource partners provided business advising to more small businesses than any time in the program’s 37-year history.  At the same time, the SBDCs reached out to businesses and entrepreneurs from underserved communities as they generated substantial economic impact statewide. In fact, 81.3 percent of 2021 SBDC clients were women, minorities, veterans, the disabled, or clients located in rural areas, marking a extraordinary year of service to underserved members of Ohio’s small business community. Thank you to all of Ohio’s dedicated SBDC professionals for your outstanding accomplishments!

Small Business Exporting:

The SBA Standby Letter of Credit Solution for Small Business Exporters

By Patrick K. Hayes, SBA Finance Director North

Is your business one of the many small businesses that has returned to exporting in the international marketplace? The COVID-19 pandemic was a tremendous disruption to global trade, but the world has learned to deal with that challenge, and U.S. exports have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. One of the outcomes of the export recovery is that foreign buyers are increasingly requesting Standby Letters of Credit (SBLCs) of U.S. exporters to mitigate the risk of nonperformance. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) can help ease the way for your small business when you need to use an SBLC to win an export sale.

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From SBA’s Office of Advocacy: Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business

The SBA Office of Advocacy’s most popular publication, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, gathers the most up-to-date statistics about American small businesses in one place. Updated annually, the FAQ is a convenient place to find facts about the total number of small businesses, their share of employment and net new jobs, and their overall contribution to the U.S. economy. 

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Coming Up — SBA Northern Ohio February 2022 Events:

Thursday, February 3: 10:00am–11:30am ET Online

Government Contracting: Doing business with Tobyhanna Army Depot

Friday, February 11: 10:00am–12:00pm ET Online 

How to Sell Your Product or Service to the Federal Government

Each year, our government spends billions of dollars in goods and services on purchases from private firms. The SBA works to create an environment for maximum participation by small, disadvantaged, and woman-owned businesses in federal government contract awards and large prime subcontract awards. SBA administers several programs and services that assist small businesses in meeting the requirements to receive government contracts, either as prime contractors or subcontractors. These include the 8(a) Business Development Program, SAM, HUBZone Program and SUB-Net. Find out how these programs can help your business.

Register

Wednesday, February 16: 11:00am–12:00pm ET

SBA Basics Webinar: Overview and Programs from SBA’s Northern Ohio Office

For more SBA Cleveland and Events:

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All SBA programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. This email does not constitute or imply an endorsement by SBA of any opinions, products, or services of any private individual or entity.