National Small Business Week celebrates the best of Utah's small businesses

This year marks 59 years of America celebrating the success of small businesses during National Small Business Week. Since the first National Small Business Week held by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 1963, our nation’s businesses have dealt with a myriad of economically impacting issues resulting from wars, fear of a Y2K collapse, technological evolution and now a global pandemic. Through all of it, entrepreneurs have pushed forward and come up with creative new ways to conduct business and grow our economy. Utah entrepreneurs are delivering services and products that make the state’s cities, towns and rural communities great places to live and work.

I am particularly pleased this year to congratulate our 2022 Small Business Week award winners. These businesses are reflective of what entrepreneurial success looks like in Utah. I know there are many great businesses in our state that have worked extremely hard to get to where they are, and we are here to honor a few of those that have stood out among their peers. There are currently over 313,000 small businesses in Utah, and so these few that we recognize this year with a coveted National Small Business Week Award should be proud.

We are excited that we will be back in person this year with our small businesses, partners, lenders and the community at our awards luncheon after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. It has been a difficult two years for everyone and it will be good to get back together to share our stories and successes.

Small-business owners have to wear so many different hats — the CEO, the HR manager, the sales lead, IT and cybersecurity enforcer, bookkeeper, janitor and, for these last couple of years, health safety inspector. These owners work hard on their businesses and they do so while juggling time with their families and community responsibilities. The ability to balance it all is extremely difficult and, for many, impossible, which is why I admire those who take on this challenge. That is why it is important for us to take a moment and celebrate National Small Business Week.

Our small businesses have faced some unique and extremely difficult challenges due to a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Many business owners were struggling to keep their doors open in the face of required restrictions and mandates. It has been a privilege to serve as the Utah SBA district director during this time and work closely with these owners to weather the storm.

Through tremendous support from our lending community and resource partners, our district office provided much-needed assistance to Utah small-business owners through our SBA COVID-relief programs. These programs included the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), our Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant program (SVOG). During FY2021, we were able to provide more than $4 billion through these programs to support the small businesses in our state.

Our remarkable resource partners — the Small Business Development Center network, Women Business Centers and SCORE — continue to provide valuable counseling and training services to Utah’s small businesses. During the pandemic, I had a front-row seat to observe the dedication and hard work of the individuals in these organizations. They truly care about the success of the small-business owners with whom they work.

In addition to providing significant SBA COVID relief funding to Utah small businesses in the past year, our Utah District Office and SBA participating lenders provided substantial funding through SBA’s traditional 7(a) and 504 lending programs. Businesses took advantage of lower interest rates and reduced fees, which resulted in the approval of 1,256 traditional loans, an 18 percent increase over FY20. Traditional SBA lending resulted in over $925 million in capital flowing to Utah’s small-business community. We also ensured underserved markets had access to our programs. Of our FY21 traditional funding, minority-owned businesses received $95 million, woman-owned businesses received $67 million, veteran-owned businesses received $12 million and rural businesses received $93 million.

During the pandemic, many of our businesses kept a focus on growth, including expansion to international markets. The Utah SBA District Office has continued to have a key focus area to help small businesses expand globally. This year the SBA awarded the World Trade Center of Utah $1,050,000 in SBA STEP Grant funding. This amount represents the largest increase among any state in the country over the past three years. The program is created to help small businesses make operational adjustments and investigate foreign markets. International sales add $5 billion in revenue for our state’s small-business exporters and we work closely with our partners to support these business owners that want to learn about and expand into global markets.

All of the work SBA partners and lenders have done doesn’t compare to the devotion, work and sleepless nights that Utah small-business owners expend and experience. These entrepreneurs are the backbone of Utah’s economy. It is their perseverance in their business pursuits that continue to keep our state’s economy as one of the top in the country.

This year our National Small Business Week award winners are a great example of this devotion and dedication. They truly show what it means to be an expert in their industries and give back to their communities. I look forward to celebrating these small-business giants and the positive impact they have had on the lives within and livelihoods of Utah communities.

Marla Trollan serves as the Small Business Administration’s Utah District director based in Salt Lake City and oversees the agency’s programs and services in the state.