SBA Says $44.8 Billion in Small Business Loans Awarded in 2021


sba awarded $44.8 billion in small business loans

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced it has reached $44.8 billion in funding to small businesses for the 2021 fiscal year, equating to more than 61,000 traditional loans.

SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman made the announcement, stating:

“In the midst of a once-in-a-generation pandemic, the SBA’s mission-driven team delivered a record number of SBA’s traditional loans to our nation’s small businesses – in addition to more than $1.1 trillion in COVID-related relief since the start of the pandemic.”

SBA Loans Hit $44.8 Billion in 2021

Under the leadership of Guzman, the SBA has prioritized increasing capital to small business owners across the United States. There has been a particular drive to make capital available to businesses from traditionally undeserved communities.

The SBA’s data highlights the vital role having access to funding serves for the small business community. For small businesses that are denied a loan by commercial lenders like banks, SBA’s existing loan program act as vital lifeline to small businesses.

Assisting Small Business Recovery

The importance of having access to funding is especially prevalent as the economy emerges from the pandemic and this prolific disruption it had on small businesses.

Despite development being made in SBA’s lending programs, the agency is aware that gaps in accessing capital still exist in some communities. Hence why the SBA is prioritizing lending to small businesses in traditionally undeserved communities.

As SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman added: “While progress has been made, our data also tells a deeper story: historic inequities in accessing capital persist, and we must do more to lower the barrier of entry to opportunity for all our entrepreneurs. We will continue to build on our impactful programs to meet small businesses where they are and connect them with the resources needed to thrive.”

Funding for Minority Owned Businesses

In 2021, almost 52,000 loans totalling more than $36.5 billion were provided to small businesses. Minority business owners received almost $11 billion in loans, equating to 30% of total SBA lending. According to the data, businesses owned by women received almost $5 billion in the 2021 financial year. Veteran-owned businesses received $1.2 billion in SBA loans in the same year.

The SBA’s data also shows that $71.8 million in microloan funding went to nearly 4,400 small businesses. 41% of these loans went to underserved communities, including Black-owned and Hispanic-owned small businesses.

Making it easier for small businesses to get their hands on capital, the data underlines how the SBA provides vital support for small businesses, including those that are minority-owned.

Image: Depositphotos

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Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a professional freelance writer and journalist based in the United Kingdom. Since 2006, Gabrielle has been writing articles, blogs and news pieces for a diverse range of publications and sites. You can read "Gabrielle’s blog here.".

3 Reactions
  1. I am still waiting for my loan response for over 2 month’s time. I must have made @ 10 calls to SBA customer service and got answers that they still working on it. I see advertised that people get it in 24-48 hours. I guess you have to be some body or be someone. I am a minority-owned small business & I think that all I am getting is run around. Let’s see. If some can say that I am getting the loan or I am not. Either way may be you are doing good job but not with me.

  2. I applied for a small business loan via the Business Development Bank of Canada and do you know what happened. Not a thing except it cost me 10 points on my credit score. I next went to RRC. Same result except that cost me 25 points. Now with a score below 600 and desperation setting in I was forced to try with one of those strip mall loan shark companies. I called Easy Financial who promised their credit checks are “soft” and won’t trigger anything. At least buy me dinner before you lie. That was another 60 points drop on my score. After all millions and Millions of dollars were refused costing small business companies to close there doors, take huge hits with the credit companies, and are left wondering why do all these programs from associations, government funds, and financial community relief ads say they are there help bla bla bla, when the truth is they don’t. They just sit back and watch you die a slow death.

  3. There are people still waiting on the original loan from 2020. Been in recon since June with no movement. The SBA has failed in my opinion to provide emergency relief to small business. I am one of many.
    The rich get richer…..