“Entrepreneurship and small business ownership is at the heart of the American identity. And it is really part of our American strength. It is what built the greatest economy in the world.” Those were the words of US SBA Administrator Karen Mills as she addressed an audience of New Jersey and New York entrepreneurs and small business owners at the “Hurricane Sandy Small Business Recovery and Matchmaking Summit” held on August 7th at NJIT.
Administrator Mills and HUD Secretary Sean Donovan, two prominent officials from the Obama Administration, gave key note speeches to the small business audience that offered details of what the government has done over the past few months to assist storm victims. At the same time they emphasized the government’s ongoing commitment of helping small businesses get back on their feet in support of the region’s economy.
In addition to the key note addresses, attendees had access to a range of resources that included an expo of government agencies, organizations and companies involved in government procurement programs– of great value to small business. Two panel discussions were held that included government officials from New Jersey and New York discussing storm relief services. The panels were followed by procurement educational sessions with a matchmaking service linking small businesses to government agencies and large corporate contractors.
NJIT President Joel Bloom who was displaced from his personal residence due to the storm provided the backdrop for the event in his opening remarks, while Marilyn Diane Phillips, owner of Serenity Day Spa shared her Hurricane Sandy ordeal and how with the assistance of the US SBA she was able to recover from the devastating storm. Her Jersey City business was without power and took in six feet of water. Noting the hard decisions she had to make, she became “willing to take financial risk” and took out a loan from the SBA t enabling her to one of the first businesses to re-open in her area.
US SBA Administrator Mills framed out the importance of the relief effort, stating, “Why this is so important. There are 28 million small businesses across this country. Half the people who work in this country either own or work for small business”. She noted that Secretary Donovan for the last six months has “taken on leadership of the task force for Hurricane Sandy recovery”. In the area of government procurement, Mills noted that “23% of all Federal contracts go into the hands of small business. That is $100 billion per year.”
Two small business owners participating in the procurement matchmaking service had somewhat different views on the assistance offered at the event. Alex Malyugin, founder of the web site design company STUDIO SKY7, valued the event for the broad range of contacts he made. He particularly appreciated the opportunity to meet business counselors who he will be able to draw upon at a later time. “The event was extremely useful! Representatives from the matchmaking process were more than just a contact, they were advisers, which is very critical for a small business. Such an event definitely can help business recover from devastating effects of Sandy”.
However, Marcia S. Shapiro President of Marine Tiger Technologies came to the event with more defined expectations and did not feel as much was gained, “My hope in attending this event was to meet with potential partners or to find out about specific opportunities and the event did not meet either of these goals. I did however obtain information on resources for small business from the exhibitors and obtained some good information from Avaya about how to seek partnering opportunities.” Shapiro speculated that the limited number of corporate participants and strong registration for the event may have made achieving a successful match difficult. She also saw government matches as being hit or miss depending upon the specific services of the small business seeking to be matched.
Attendees received from the US SBA a “Small Business Quick Reference Guide” for New Jersey and New York. Links included in the Guide were:
NJ/NY District Offices: www.sba.gov/nj and www.sba.gov/ny
NJ/NY Small Business Development Centers: www.njsbdc.org and www.nyssbdc.org
Central Jersey SCORE: http://centraljersey.score.org
New York City SCORE: http://newyorkcity.score.org
New Jersey Women’s Business Center: http://wcenj.org
New York Women’s Business Center:
http://nywbc.org www.bocnet.org http://nymwbc.org
New Jersey Resources:
NJ Business Portal: http://www.nj.gov/njbusiness
NY Department of State Business Action Center: http://nj.gov/state/bac
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