Disasters won’t knock out aid, chief says
Major hurricanes have struck during the past month with alarming regularity, inundating the Texas coast, hammering Florida and devastating the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The storms have been a drain on the U.S. Small Business Administration, which provides direct loans to businesses and homeowners affected by disasters. But in a visit Thursday to Columbus, Administrator Linda McMahon said the SBA will be able to meet the challenges and provide help for businesses such as those in central Ohio.
“We already had a pretty good store of resources,” McMahon said, explaining that an emergency $2 billion has been appropriated in addition to the $3 billion the agency already had.
McMahon said that SBA officials continue to be in the dark about the how bad the situation is on Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria rumbled through Wednesday.
“We can’t contact our office because there are no phones or power in Puerto Rico,” she said.
The SBA administrator said central Ohio residents and others can do a lot to help all disaster victims.
The agency is looking for loan processors, loss verification experts, customer-service experts, lawyers and paralegals to help process claims and help storm victims get back on their feet. Most of the positions, some of which are paid, don’t require going to an affected region, McMahon said. To inquire, go to https://www.sba.gov/ disaster-assistance.
McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and wife of billionaire promoter Vince McMahon, said she was in Columbus and Cincinnati as part of a national tour. She said she wants to hear business people’s concerns and spread the word about SBA services.
“A lot of people think we just do loans,” she said.
The agency also runs programs that help businesses secure government contracts.
And the administration offers its Emerging Leaders Initiative, a seven-month program of mentoring and networking with peers, local-government officials and the financial community. The idea is to help businesses in financially challenged neighborhoods scale up, said Brooke Betit of the federal agency’s Columbus office.
Scott Burton, whose family company, Burton Metal Finishing, hosted McMahon, said he was happy for an SBA loan that helped the business to recover from a 2013 fire. But he seemed more jazzed by his experience in the leaders initiative.
As he walked through his plant, he described how he found new customers through the program and got a lot of ideas that improved his company’s profitability.
Describing how he hated college, Burton said he really enjoyed the leaders initiative even though he had to attend classes two days a week.