The San Antonio Chamber of Commerce took the lead in gathering local small business stakeholders to welcome Edward “Ted” James, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Region 6 Administrator. The group included other Chambers and the San Antonio Manufactures Association who attended a VIP reception to meet with Ted ahead of a UTSA Small Business Development Center (SBDC) breakfast. Chamber President and CEO Richard Perez welcomed the audience and shared the floor with UTSA leaders, who host regular breakfasts for small business clients at the SBDC. The breakfast was free to Chamber members and featured remarks by Ted covering his vision for his tenure as the Region 6 Administrator and possible changes ahead for the SBA to better serve small businesses in our region. The breakfast hosted over one hundred people, mostly small business owners and many who had worked with the SBA in the past.
Ted views San Antonio as an important community in his region and noted our area already takes advantage of SBA offerings in large numbers. He also understands that some of SBA’s loan structures are not as dynamic as needed for small businesses and proposes to make adjustments, enabling the offering of smaller loans tailored to the current needs of small business owners in San Antonio.