Delays at S.B.A. Harm Program for Women
According to a government survey in 2007, the disarray of miscommunication inside the Small Business Administration considerably delayed some federal grants to women’s business centers, which annually help very many women to start up self-owned enterprises (Olson, 2007). In this article published on the New York Times, the author indicates that the lag in the agency’s delivery of federal funds forced part of the 98 women’s business centers to send their staff packing. Giving data from the audit by the S.B.A. inspector general’s office, the article indicates that these women’s business centers have additionally been forced to abandon vendors to stay in business (Olson, 2007). These women’s businesses have been forced to resort to other financial sources such as bank credits and their parent organizations.
These women’s business centers have been forced to take measures that will ensure that they survive the delay as they await government disbursement. For the women’s business centers that could not adapt to the challenges, they have been forced to close down. The laying off workers and abandoning vendors are downsizing measures taken by the leadership to avoid running losses and manage the operational expenses including salaries of the staffs. The article further points out the responsibilities of the Small Business Administration in ensuring that these women’s business centers receive the disbursements in time to run their business obligations as well as retain their staffs. When these women’s business centers receive the disbursements upon the approval of Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, more businesses would be started up in the country and the laid off staffs would resume their responsibilities. However, the author concludes by indicating that the agency took up to a year in some cases to disburse these funds.
Work Cited:
Olson, Elizabeth. “Study Says Delays at S.B.A. Harm Program for Women.” The New York Times. Web September 20, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/business/smallbusiness/20sba.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&ref=smallbusinessadministration&adxnnlx=1391670140-v7uFm0OOcUwwnGz4j6kNwg
