This is a transcript excerpt from the National Small Business Week 2016 highlights video featuring Maria Contreras-Sweet and other speakers. The speakers celebrate small-business entrepreneurship, describe SBA support (training, loans, awards), and share personal anecdotes about startup struggles and growth. The excerpt references specific funding outcomes (e.g., SBA loan and award amounts), local entrepreneurship statistics, and the national tour of events.
Questions this video answers
2016
$500,000
$50,000
90%
Chapters
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to officially kick off the National Small business week of 2016. We are so fortunate to be joined by entrepreneurs, by mom and pops, by manufacturers, by hackers, disruptors, innovators who have availed themselves of SBA services to create jobs, to deliver goods and services, and to lift up America across the country in local communities, one job at a time. I wanted to buy a building. We were growing, and we needed a bigger facility. So that's where the SBA came in. It was difficult. I didn't know what to do, where to go, what to do first. So I started I take a class in the sbdc. Each of you in this room is one of the most inspiring small business success stories that we have to offer. Only in this country can you start in a garage and then fast Forward to having 90 employees, 350 wholesale customers, four retail stores, and continue to layer the company to add jobs. We would not have made it 26 years without the SBA's involvement. The SBA has been right there with me all along, walked down the road with me every step of the way. Our small businesses across the country, when you put them together, are a huge force for good in our economy and our communities. But each of them individually don't ever get that attention. So we take one week out of the year, we bring all those lights together and one sort of shining star on behalf of small businesses. You guys are the winners. You guys are the successes. Talk about how amazing it is to be an entrepreneur. To the people around you, bring your passion, your enthusiasm, bring everything that you got. You know, take that step toward your dream. Take that step toward taking a small risk. Fail forward if it doesn't work, start over. Each step of the way, the SBA has been there, providing me with the tools I needed to be successful. The SBA is what makes small business work across the country. They provide you with all the tools and the toolbox that you need. You just need to add the drive and the hard work. How did you become Maria Contrera? Sweet. I know you're from California, right? I'm gonna lead the witness here, Right? So, like, what is your constitution that has allowed you to this exposure? Congressman interject. Yes. When I heard that the SBA and Maria Contrera suite was coming in with Mike Muse, especially coming into Harlem at the world famous Apollo Theater, I had to come to formally greet you. I want to salute you personally. We are honored that you are with us here. And I say the least we can do is give him A standing ovation of a life. Well, for those of you who are small business owners, take a young person under your wings. Make that person an apprentice in your organization. Teach them about what it is to run a business. We just have an incredible panelist of individuals. I still had that passion that I wanted to start my own business. And at that time, the Internet just seemed, it was like, you know, the Wild West. It felt right for me. It's definitely up to us to be able to lead in any capacity when it comes back to the community. Because without us being recognized as figures of something that is actually attainable, something that is realistic for people, for young people of color, it's hard to imagine that you have to just believe in yourself and forget what everybody else has to say about you and just live your dream and your passion. Buenas tardes. Feliz Emana Nacional de la Pequena Empresa y Bienvenidos de Nuestro Distrito de Colorado. And for those of you watching via livestream, happy National Small Business Week from Colorado this fall, it'll be 30 years ago where I decided I was going to create a restaurant that brewed its own beer. And no one had ever done that in Colorado or in the Rocky Mountains. And one afternoon we got turned down by 32 banks. I look back to those early years of what it takes for an entrepreneur. Puts everything they have on the line and just doesn't quit. Take that idea. Seek out mentors. Network, network, network. To me, an entrepreneur is a leader in training. My best advice as I think about launching a business is just launch it. We're showing important small businesses are little piece of help that we're doing for the community. It's, you know, very important. Thank you so much. We are also a very proud recipient of a mission critical $50,000 award from the SBA this year which really allows us to do more to promote female run companies. We're very grateful for that. It could National Small Business Week without celebrating our veterans and our men and women in uniform today. Tell me what it was. Where was the turning point where you knew this was going to work for you? When I finally connected to the SBA Emerging Leaders course and I started getting advice from other business owners and small business advocates saying you need to know your numbers. Thanks to the SBA office in San Francisco, we were able to get a loan for $500,000. The decision to get the SBA loan was the best decision we have ever made. Oakland is exploding with entrepreneurial energy. Can you feel it? I mean, we are a city of small businesses. 90% of Oakland businesses have 20 or fewer employees. It's been such a ride. We kicked it off in Washington, D.C. headed over to New York to celebrate our millen. We headed over to Denver to lift the women. We went to Phoenix to honor and salute our veterans. We came out to California to celebrate our immigrant population, our new Americans. And now we're closing it out in San Francisco with impact entrepreneurs. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. So thank you for being the joy of our life to give us the privilege to get to meet you, to understand the blood, sweat and tears that you fought to build your families, businesses and all that you're doing. Having started three businesses and my third, you heard, was a community bank, I consider myself a small business woman whose small business serves small businesses every day. And so I salute each and every one of you and thank you for making our country a great place. God bless you and God bless the United States of America. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. It.
