New SBA program lends helping hand to smallest businesses

The Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs also called PRIME is a new program funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration to help the smallest businesses in America. Accord-ing to an SBA news release, under the program, the SBA provided federal funds to community-based regional and national organizations that offer training and technical assistance to low-income and very low-income entrepreneurs with small businesses that employ five or few-er workers. The University of Missouri Outreach and Extension, which has a branch in Springfield, was one of 69 or-ganizations in 28 states selected to provide PRIME-related services. "The PRIME program was created to help the smallest of small businesses. These are entrepreneurs at the most basic stage of starting a business and who typically require the greatest amount of committed service and guidance. In order to succeed, they require training and technical assistance that must be accessible," said SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto.

The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that more than 2 million businesses in the United States are operated by low-income and very low-income entrepreneurs, but the release stated that other research indicates that very few of those entrepreneurs receive business assistance. The major focus of the PRIME is to provide business-based as-sistance to those entrepreneurs who need sufficient training and education to gain access to capital for establishing and expanding the small businesses they own.