For the leader of the state’s largest business organization, there is a clearly defined role her group can fulfill on behalf of Alabama’s small businesses suffering under the weight of the COVID-19 crisis.
“It is imperative that we help these men and women get back on their feet,” Katie Boyd Britt told Yellowhammer News in an interview this week.
As a former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and the current president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama, Britt has a unique combination of experiences from which she can draw to take up for small business.
“It is something that’s very important to me,” she emphasized. “I’m the daughter of two small business owners, so it has always been apparent to me that what happens in D.C. and what happens in Montgomery affects the bottom line. I truly believe that small business is the lifeblood of our state and the heartbeat of our communities.”
One of the ways in which Britt recently sought to support the state’s small business sector was through an hour long television show broadcast on Alabama Public Television and Facebook Live. It was specifically programmed to answer questions and provide information to small business owners trying to navigate the crisis.
Once Governor Kay Ivey issued her statement urging small businesses to apply for federal stimulus funds, business owners from across the state began to call BCA asking for direction on how to apply for those programs.
“It became very apparent, given the number of calls that we received, that there were a lot of unanswered questions,” Britt explained. “If we wanted to make sure Alabama small business was first in line, we wanted to do our part in helping those questions get answered for those people.”
The Small Business Exchange featured Britt sitting down with an array of experts and elected officials, including Ivey, Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth and Attorney General Steve Marshall.
Subject matter experts each brought a particular area of knowledge helpful to small business owners.
Carl Jamison of JamisonMoneyFarmer, one of the state’s largest accounting firms, outlined many of the application requirements for stimulus funding. Jason Isbell, legal counsel for the Alabama Bankers Association, advised viewers about the banking industries approach to approving Small Business Administration (SBA) loans. Secretary of Labor Fitzgerald Washington was able to address unemployment questions which have become prevalent in recent weeks.
Britt noted that Rosemary Elebash, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), has been “the strongest advocate for small business for years.” Based on listening to conference calls with President Trump and Vice President Pence, Elebash was able to provide insight into the federal COVID-19 response.
BCA also had close to 60 experts from Alabama law firms and accounting firms answering callers’ questions.
“We really tried to be intentional about how do we get these people to the very best resource possible,” Britt recalled.
Callers were able to select from a five-topic menu and were connected to experts accordingly. The topics were: SBA loans, unemployment issues, government orders, real estate/land-lease questions and tax relief.
After sorting through the data, Britt and her staff determined that 70% of their calls involved SBA loans. This comes as no surprise in light of SBA’s announcement on Tuesday that it had approved 19,244 loans, totaling nearly $4 billion, for small businesses in Alabama.
Britt points out that 99.4% of businesses in Alabama meet the definition of a small business according to the SBA.
With such a high volume of applications expected to enter the system, she and her team wanted to act quickly.
“Given the fact that there is a capped amount to the overall funding available, making sure that every person had the opportunity to ask their questions and put forth the very best application was something that was of paramount importance to BCA,” she remarked.
Alabama now ranks in the top half of states for SBA loans received. It ranks 21st in the number of loans provided and 22nd in the total value of loans issued.
The success of the Small Business Exchange was not limited to the results from the loan program.
“It was an excellent example of unified cooperation in a time of crisis,” Britt said. “It was a neat thing to be a part of to have so many entities come together. It was business helping business.”
BCA’s focus now turns to supporting small businesses as they approach reopening “in a safe and effective manner,” according to Britt.
A member of Ainsworth’s emergency task force subcommittee making recommendations on restarting the small business economy, Britt understands how vital each of these businesses is to its respective area as the subcommittee explores reopening.
“The situation is absolutely unprecedented,” she stated. “We’re monitoring not only the physical health of those affected by the virus, but we are monitoring — daily — the economic conditions of our small businesses across the state. We’re thrilled to be a part of the lieutenant governor’s task force and also working with a variety of people across the board to figure out how we get these small businesses reopened in a safe and effective way. We want to make sure we are listening to what they have to say and being an advocate for their concerns and their questions and also being a conduit of information. We want to continue to elevate our partnership with NFIB and others to make sure that our small businesses have the resources and support they need to not only get through this pandemic, to get through this crisis, but to also thrive afterward.”
Helping small business flourish has been a priority throughout Britt’s tenure at BCA, and she is resolute that the organization’s focus will continue.
“Even before the crisis, realizing the important role they play in our communities, they are job creators,” she explained. “To me, the fruitfulness of an employer is passed down to an employee and to a community at-large. Making sure we are thoughtful in how we approach those things, making sure we are looking at it through that prism, I think is important. We have been trying to do that since day one.”
Tim Howe is an owner of Yellowhammer Multimedia
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