Statement from Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices on Today's White House Announcement on Improvements to COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program
NEW YORK, NY, September 9, 2021 – Ahead of President Biden’s speech this evening, Jessica Johnson-Cope, Chair of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices National Leadership Council and owner of Johnson Security Bureau in The Bronx, NY, issued the following statement:
"We are encouraged and relieved to see the Biden Administration prioritizing access-to-capital for small businesses by updating and expanding the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program. This will help small business owners like me receive access to affordable working capital as we continue to face ongoing challenges on the road to recovery. I am grateful to the 10,000 Small Businesses Voices community for spending months advocating to our leaders in Washington about why this is critical to small business recovery."
New Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices Survey Data on Access to Capital
Data released this week from a forthcoming survey from Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices found that small businesses, and disproportionately Black-owned small businesses, continue to face pandemic-related headwinds on the road to recovery.
- 44% say their businesses have less than three months in cash reserves in the case of an emergency or a COVID-19 related shutdown. In a troubling sign of an uneven recovery, the number is higher – 51% – for Black-owned small businesses.
- Only 31% of small business owners report being very confident they would get access to capital if they needed it. Strikingly, only 20% of Black-owned small businesses report being very confident in their access to capital.
- 41% of small business owners say they are concerned that debt accumulated prior to and/or during the pandemic will hurt their businesses’ ability to get back to normal. The number is 55% for Black-owned small businesses.
- 88% of small business owners support the Federal government providing additional financial emergency assistance to small businesses given the rise of the Delta variant.
- 91% support the Federal government creating a long-term, low-interest loan guarantee program to help businesses rebuild their balance sheets.
The data is a result of a survey of 1,145 Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses participants conducted by Babson College and David Binder Research from Aug. 30 - Sept. 1. The survey included small business owners from 48 states. More data from the survey will be released at a later date.
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ABOUT 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES VOICES
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices is an initiative for program participants to organize and advocate for policies that matter to them. It builds on Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, which over the past decade has provided access to education, capital, and support services to more than 10,000 small business owners across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington D.C. Learn more at www.gs.com/10ksb-voices.
Media Contact:
Abbey Collins
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