On Wednesday, the Senate Small Business Committee held a hearing on SBA Reauthorization, focusing on capital access programs. Bill Manger, Associate Administrator of the SBA Office of Capital Access testified, followed by a panel including Julie Huston, President & CEO of immito, Patricia Kibbe, President & CEO of Evergreen Business Capital, Robert Villarreal, Executive Vice President of CDC Small Business Finance (a CAMEO member), and Connie Evans, President & CEO of AEO.
In regard to the Microloan Program, Manger highlighted support for elimination of the 1/55th rule and said that nearly 48% of microloans currently go to women. Chair Rubio asked questions about microloan data and Manger talked about how SBA is updating the INHERS system to capture more metrics (the type of job created by the loan, revenue, whether they are still in business). However, he stood by the statement that SBA will not be able to share any of it because it does not belong to SBA, but the intermediary.
You can view the hearing and read the witness written testimonies, including Robert’s, here.