SBA Loans: Are They Any Good?

The way the government defines 'small businesses' might be a bit different from what you were led to believe by the name. Small Business Association was setup way back in 1953 and since then its doors have been open for small business owners; so much so that it has almost shelled out $30 billion since its inception. With the depreciation value of the dollar, the amount of funds has increased in the last decade considerably. Though during the period of recession, the SBA wasn't entertaining much new businesses in the fear that they might swoop with the fund, after they declared bankruptcy (although the SBA denied that it had stopped taking/considering applications)!

What is a Small Business?

The way the government defines is that a small business can be a friendly neighborhood shop, a small grocery shop or any such business setup that doesn't utilize too much labor and/or money. If you're looking at funding your new technological venture, you may have to seek other funding sources as well. This is because, (accept it or not) the government officials concerned with the SBA may not be technologically so much competent or inclined to understand the future prospects of the business. Carrying over from the previous line, if the founders of Facebook had approached the SBA, then Facebook wouldn't be like now, as we know it!

It was started as an internet social networking venture and it didn't require many funds in the beginning. It was more of an intellectual property than anything else. Similarly, if you're looking at some internet venture of some kind, chances are high that SBA won't take the guarantee. But it may so happen that you already have a running business at hand and want to expand via the internet; then the SBA may consider your application because of the fact that it has already seen your business running.

Qualification for SBA Loans

Let it be made clear that the SBA does not provide loans per se. It is guarantor of your small business and will help you out with small amount of funding as required. It is much less than what venture capitalists or what angel investors will invest in your business. But still, it is good to approach the SBA just for the sake of the 'government guarantee assurance' that you may get if you qualify for the same.

To qualify, the first thing would be to meet the benchmarks set by the SBA to judge whether a business qualifies as small or not. The concept of small is applicable only for the startup period and not hence - that is the good part of the judging parameters. When you apply for SBAs, you must have been rejected first! Confused? You're applicable for SBA help only when you have not received (read: rejected funds) from banks or any other private institutions. Now depending on the type of your business, the SBA classifies it as small or big. Whatever is the effort involved, one must apply for SBA loans for their business's benefit.

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