U.S. Small Business Administration

**Mission** The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) helps Americans start, grow, and build resilient businesses. SBA was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns; preserve free competitive enterprise; and maintain and strengthen the overall economy of **History and role of SBA****Events leading up to the agency’s creation** **SBA’s creation was largely a response to the pressures of the Great Depression and World War II. Read through to get a sense of how the agency’s mission took shape.** - **1932:** The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) is created by President Herbert Hoover to address the financial crisis of the Great Depression. The RFC is a federal lending program for all businesses, large and small, hurt by the Great Depression. - **1942:** Congress creates the Smaller War Plants Corporation (SWPC). The SWPC loans money to entrepreneurs and encourages financial institutions to extend credit available to small enterprises. The agency also advocates on behalf of small business to federal agencies and big businesses. - **1945:** WWII ends, and the SWPC is abolished. Its lending and contract powers are given over to the RFC. The U.S. Department of Commerce takes on some duties addressing small businesses. In the belief that a lack of information and expertise is the main cause of small business failure, the agency produces brochures and counsels individual entrepreneurs in management. - **1950:** The Korean War leads Congress to create the Small Defense Plants Administration (SDPA). SPDA is very similar to the SWPC, except that RFC keeps ultimate lending authority. SDPA evaluates small businesses and certifies them to the RFC if they judge the business can execute government contracts. - **1952:** Legislation marks an end to the RFC. All functions are transferred to the Department of the Treasury. - **1953:** President Dwight Eisenhower signs the Small Business Act into law on July 30, creating a new agency, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). SBA’s mission is to "aid, counsel, assist and protect, insofar as is possible, the interests of small business concerns." It also is charged with ensuring that small businesses earn a "fair proportion" of government contracts and sales of surplus property.