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NAFCU celebrates National Small Business Week
NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger is highlighting credit unions' engagement with small businesses in recognition of the Small Business Administration's (SBA) National Small Business Week, which began yesterday.
"Credit unions are committed to serving and strengthening their communities, and one of the ways they do so is through providing small businesses with necessary capital that stimulates economic growth," said Berger. "NAFCU looks forward to continuing our partnership with the SBA to find opportunities for credit unions to better serve small businesses through lending."
The SBA kicked off the week with a number of events over the weekend, including a hackathon and national awards ceremonies. All events are scheduled to be broadcast live via the administration's Facebook page; a workshop on social media tips for small businesses will broadcast today at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
The SBA is also offering a free two-day virtual conference beginning tomorrow where attendees will have access to educational webinars, business advice from mentors and networking chat rooms. Live webinars will explore topics such as:
- the U.S economic outlook and its impact on small businesses;
- online marketing;
- SBA funding programs;
- how to drive growth;
- how to do business with the federal government; and more.
In 2015 and 2017, NAFCU signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with former SBA Administrators Maria Contreras-Sweet and Linda McMahon, respectively, and has since worked closely with the SBA to improve access to credit union small-dollar loans to small businesses across the nation. Gail Jansen, vice president of business services and operations at Kinecta Federal Credit Union, recently urged the SBA and Congress on behalf of NAFCU to work together to protect and strengthen the SBA's 7(a) loan program by not raising fees on small lenders and small businesses.
Last week, the NCUA and SBA launched a three-year collaboration aimed at increasing awareness of SBA programs and bringing small business and credit unions together.
NAFCU has been active on SBA lending issues and met with former Administrator McMahon earlier this year to discuss credit unions' participation in SBA lending programs as well as website accessibility concerns under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and efforts to modernize the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
National Small Business Week runs through Saturday.