The U.S. Small Business Administration’s 7(a) Working Capital Pilot Program has delivered more than $150 in new lending, the agency said recently.
More than $125 million has been approved since last January, officials said. The success of the program is being driven by small manufacturers, the agency said. Those smaller companies make up 98 percent of all U.S. manufacturers. The manufacturing industry is experiencing a resurgence due to President Donald Trump’s economic agenda, the agency said.
“Manufacturing is a growing but capital-intensive industry, which is why SBA’s Working Capital Pilot Program is playing a key role in empowering small firms to reshore their supply chains, hire American workers, and begin growing again after decades of bad trade deals that shipped U.S. jobs and industry overseas,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said. “The WCP is one of many SBA initiatives tailored to support America’s 600,000 small manufacturers amid the Trump Administration’s work to restore American industrial dominance. The SBA will continue to expand access to capital, support onshoring, and pursue deregulation to drive economic growth, job creation, innovation, and national security.”
The SBA said the WCP is a complement to its core 7(a) and 504 loan programs, which were created to help small businesses gain access to the working capital necessary to support their growth. Since its launch small manufacturers have been the program’s largest beneficiaries and make up more than 25 percent of the total portfolio.
Officials said asset-based WCP loans give small businesses a cost-effective way to access working capital by using their assets to procure inventory, manage expenses, and offer competitive sales terms, while transaction-based WCP loans give small businesses access to capital in order to fund individual projects or orders and to finance 100 percent the businesses direct costs.