| Welcome to the Spring Edition of the Pacific Region Quarterly! Region IX, which includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam and the Pacific territories, continues to lead the way on SBA lending, with more than $2.2 billion loaned so far this fiscal year! Overall, SBA continues to approve loans at a pre-recession pace. The pace of SBA loan-making is a healthy sign for the economy and underscores our commitment to support small business owners looking for capital to grow their businesses. Region IX hosted a number of small business events throughout the second quarter, including six White House forums where we had the opportunity to share with small business owners and community leaders ways that SBA and the Administration can help them grow their businesses. We also had the chance to get their feedback and ideas to take back to Washington, DC. In addition to my role as Regional Administrator, I serve as Senior Advisor to the Administrator on clean tech and energy efficiency issues. As part of this role, I had the opportunity to keynote a major solar conference this spring. The conference, PV America West, welcomed over 3,000 people through its doors. I was able to share with the audience SBA and Administration programs available to help solar power industry small businesses reach their potential. In the upcoming month, we will celebrate National Small Business Week. Congratulations to our local, regional, and national winners! Region IX's talented small businesses and champions will be in the national spotlight with six national winners so far. We would love to hear from you. Please contact us if you have any questions about how SBA can help you start or grow a business.Elizabeth EcholsRegional AdministratorRegional Administrator Echols with Los Angeles District Director Victor Parker (5th from left) and community leaders at Pasadena Economic Summit. | |  |
 | | Regional Administrator Echols and Santa Ana District Director Adalberto Quijada at Irvine Business Matchmaking event. |
Regional Administrator Echols speaking with small business persons at White House Hispanic Community Action Summit in San Jose. | |  |
 | | Regional Administrator Echols and Deputy Administrator Marie Johns at Phoenix small business roundtable. |
Regional Administrator Echols keynoted PV America West in San Jose. In addition to her role as Regional Administrator, Ms. Echols is Senior Advisor to Administrator Mills on clean tech and energy efficiency initiatives. | |  |
 | | Regional Administrator Echols moderating panel at White House Urban Economic Forum in Los Angeles. |
SBA Opens 2nd Round of Applications for Intermediary Lending Pilot Program The Intermediary Lending Pilot Program (ILP), which provides long-term loans to eligible non-profit intermediary lenders to finance their lending to small businesses, has opened a second competitive application period. As a result, small businesses, especially those in underserved markets looking for loans up to $200,000, will soon have access to twice as many community-based funding sources under the U.S. Small Business Administration program.
Launched last year under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, the Intermediary Lending Pilot Program is designed to expand access to capital to small businesses and drive economic growth and job creation. Under the program, SBA makes loans of up to $1 million to participating lenders, which use the funds to make smaller loans to startup, newly established and growing small businesses. SBA anticipates that an ILP Intermediary will relend its ILP Loan funds approximately 2.5 times over the 20-year term.
Potential applicants seeking more information about the ILP program, eligibility requirements for intermediaries and rules of competition can click here. 2012 Small Business WeekNational Small Business Week is SBA's signature event honoring small businesses and the valuable role they play in their communities, their country and the American economy.Learn more about National Small Business Week by clicking here. As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration recognizes over 100 leading small business owners from across the country for their achievements, joining an illustrious group of entrepreneurs whose ranks include owners of many of today's most successful companies. It is an opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of a distinguished group of entrepreneurs and demonstrate the SBA's continued commitment to small business owners.The SBA holds judging competitions at every level from district to region to national. Region IX once again represented itself very well, with six national winners so far! Check out Region IX's 2012 Small Business Week honorees: | | Wendy Navarro, 2012 National Home Based Business Champion |
National Winners
- Home-Based Business Champion: Wendy Navarro, Owner, Saige Nicole's Specialty Baby and Toddler Boutique (SBA office: Santa Ana)
- SBA Women's Business Center Counselor of the Year: Joyce Chan, Chinatown Service Center (SBA office: Los Angeles)
- Large Prime Contractor (Services Category): Environmental Chemical Corporation (SBA office: San Francisco)
- Small 7(a) Bank of the Year: Open Bank/First Standard Bank (SBA office: Los Angeles)
- Small 7(a) Bank of the Year: Premier Commercial Bank (SBA office: Santa Ana)
- Large CDC of the Year: Hawaii Economic Development Corporation (HEDCO) (SBA office: Hawaii)
State Small Business Persons of the Year - Zeferino Banda, Jr., President/CEO, Banda Group Intl. (SBA office: Arizona)
- Jack White, President, Ballast Point (SBA office: San Diego)
- Richard K. Lai, President, Wing On Corporation (SBA office: Guam)
- Michael Tokunaga, President, S. Tokunaga Store (SBA office: Hawaii)
- Nancy Munoz, Founder, Specialty Vehicles (SBA office: Nevada)
Region IX Winners (California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam) - Small Business Exporter: Saskia Chiesa, CEO, International Checkout, Inc. (SBA office: Los Angeles)
- Young Entrepreneur: Jerry Guyo, President, Pacific Ice Services, Inc. (SBA office: Hawaii)
- Family-Owned Business: Howard Neil Stewart, AGM Container Controls, Inc. (SBA office: Arizona)
- Financial Services Champion: Jim Hoffert, Sr. BDO, SAFE Credit Union (SBA office: Sacramento)
- Minority Small Business Champion: Lily Otieno, President/CEO, Infinity Business Solutions (SBA office: Santa Ana)
- Veteran Small Business Champion: Jeff Estep, President, Heritage Global Solutions, Inc. (SBA office: Santa Ana)
- Women in Business Champion: Rebecca Llewellyn, Payco Specialties, Inc. (SBA office: San Diego)
- Prime Contractor: Charbel Farhat, VP and Senior Scientist, CMSoft (SBA office: San Francisco)
- Subcontractor: Vickie Wessel, President, Spirit Electronics, Inc. (SBA office: Arizona)
California Winners (there are six districts in California that compete to be named state winner) - SBDC of Excellence and Innovation: Kirk Nagamine, CEO and SBDC Director, Central Valley Business Incubator SBDC (SBA office: Fresno)
- Women's Business Center of Excellence: Leah Gonzales, Program Manager, Women's Economic Ventures (SBA office: Los Angeles)
- Entrepreneurial Success: Ara Tchaghlassian, President, American Tire Depot (SBA office: Santa Ana)
National Small Business Week Video ContestTell us your story! In celebration of National Small Business Week 2012, SBA is looking for creative videos from small businesses that show how they have been helped by an SBA program or service. The contest will raise awareness of the importance of SBA programs, and the impact the small businesses that use them have in their local communities. Three winning videos will also be shown during a Google+ Hangout hosted by the SBA and the White House with SBA Administrator Karen Mills on May 24. The winners can also participate in the event with Administrator Mills, while she answers questions from small businesses around the country. All qualifying videos will be showcased on SBA's YouTube page.
Contestants can enter the contest by producing an original video, two minutes or less, that shares their story. The list of Contest Rules provides additional details on required video content. All eligible videos will be judged by SBA senior officials on the inspirational nature of the message and the creativity or uniqueness of the video concept. Videos will feature small business owners from across the country discussing the SBA assistance the company received, the most rewarding aspects of starting a business and how the SBA assistance benefited the business and the local community. Small businesses may have received SBA business counseling, SBA-guaranteed financing or SBA disaster assistance or participated in a SBA contracting program or in SBA's online community. The videos can be submitted through Challenge.gov from 12pm EDT April 16 through 5pm May 11. The contest offers the opportunity to celebrate entrepreneurship and hear directly from small business owners how SBA has helped them grow and create jobs. Add Your Jobs to the Summer Jobs+ BankIn January, President Obama announced the Summer Jobs+ initiative and called on large corporations, small businesses, non-profits and governments to come together to provide 250,000 employment opportunities for low-income and disconnected youth ages 16-24 in the summer of 2012. As part of this effort, later this month, the Department of Labor will launch the Summer Jobs+ Bank - a brand new online resource for young people to find jobs, internships, mentorship or training opportunities during the summer of 2012. You can learn more about the Summer Jobs+ initiative here. Is your small business looking to hire young people ages 16-24 this summer? Do you have internship, mentorship or training opportunities for youth? If so, we want YOU to be a part of the Summer Jobs+ Bank. You can post your job openings directly with any Internet job site that is participating in the Jobs+ Bank. Or fill out the form to let us know about the jobs your company or organization will have available this summer, and we'll make sure these jobs are posted on a participating site, such as Internships.com, AfterCollege.com, or LinkedIn, and included in the Summer Jobs+ Bank. | |
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