SBA kickstarts small business week

South Florida entrepreneurs are among the U.S. pioneers in adapting to a global economy, in the view of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

That’s why SBA Administrator Maria ContrerasSweet kicked off National Small Business Week in South Florida on Monday, first at the eMerge Americas technology conference in Miami and then at a small business conference at Of- fice Depot headquarters Boca Raton.

“This is a very entrepreneurial community,” Contreras-Sweet said. “It ’s really important to us” with its melting pot of entrepreneurs who include many veterans and women — two groups the SBA is focusing on helping, she said.

In introducing Contreras-Sweet, Depot Chairman and CEO Roland C. Smith said he is one of the veterans the SBA helped. Smith, a West Point graduate and Army officer, said he got a loan that helped him start

in an agency that placed junior officers in corporations.

Smith has gone on to lead several corporations including Wendy’s and Arby’s. He has led Office Depot since November 2013. Office Depot and Staples have proposed a $6.3 billion merger, potentially creating the largest office-supply retailer in the nation.

Office Depot, a sponsor of National Small Business Week, provided opportunities for small businesses to share tips and emerging trends on Monday. The event had sessions on how to find funding and how to break into a supply chain to be able to do business with government agencies and national corporations.

The good news is that, since the recession, many bankers will coach companies to which they are lending money, said Peter Salas, the Fort Lauderdale/Miami regional manager of JP Morgan Chase, a presenting sponsor of National Small Business Week and the top SBA lender to women and minority-owned business-