What are other challenges that you’ve seen some small-business owners deal with throughout this period?
One of the main things I saw, and we saw as a whole, was that [they] weren’t prepared for the pandemic. [They] didn’t have their financial information together like it should have been as a business owner. We had businesses that didn’t have bank accounts. Because of that, they were unable to take advantage of these great programs that you just mentioned [like] the Paycheck Protection Program or the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, because we direct deposit [straight] from the Treasury into bank accounts.
Have you seen or noted anything specific to this region in the North Texas area that are either advantages or disadvantages for small-business owners?
Our region is very progressive [with] entrepreneurship here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In my 72 counties, there are 68 SBA offices across the country; [there is] a New York District Office. There’s an L.A. District [Office]; a Houston District Office, [and] a Chicago [office]. Out of those 68 offices, my office, since 2015, has ranked in the top 5 out of all 68 offices. Every year since 2015, we’ve done over a billion dollars in lending to small businesses. This fiscal year [in] 2021, which ended Sept. 30, we had a record year. … We did $1.8B right here in my territory, the 72 counties. It goes to show you that we have a progressive market. Not only were businesses looking to recover from COVID, but people were also looking to start businesses and grow their businesses. That’s a result of that $1.8B.
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