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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

INTERVIEW: No Small Task

INTERVIEW: No Small Task Alberto Alvarado leads the local district office of the small business administration as the government agency caters to a renewed boost in entrepreneurism By JEFF WEISS Contributing Reporter Perched in his 12th floor Glendale office, overlooking panoramas of the San Gabriel Mountains on one side and the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles on the other, it’s easy to imagine that Alberto Alvarado, the Small Business Administration’s district director for Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties, can survey all the small businesses within his jurisdiction from his corner office. Framed plaques attesting to Alvarado’s impressive academic achievements hang side by side with a sign that reads “Parking for Mexicans Only others will be towed.” Clearly, proud of both his heritage and his family, photos of Alvarado with his wife and children adorn the space. Raised in East Los Angeles, in a family where no one had ever advanced past the second grade, Alvarado’s earliest dreams didn’t involve business. Instead, Alvarado was going to be a smooth fielding second baseman playing professional baseball. But dreams evolve, and through a combination of perseverance, intelligence, and dedication, Alvarado has risen to a prominent position in the Small Business Administration. Question: How long have you been at the SBA? Answer: I’ve been with the SBA for 24 years. I’m an attorney by trade. I’m a local homeboy. I grew up in East Los Angeles and went to college at Yale University and Stanford Law School. I joined the SBA as an attorney and became district counsel where I was the head attorney for about 12 years. Then about 10 years ago, I lost my mind and decided I wanted to become the director, and someone who hated me granted me my wish. Q: Why did you want to switch from law to the business world? A: When I came to the agency, I had in mind to open up a practice with some of my friends. The idea was that each of us could pursue some aspect of business law. There were three of us and we went in different directions to see what was available and to develop expertise in business law. I was going to come to the SBA and learn a little about banking and how businesses function and before you knew it, opportunities came my way and we sort of drifted into different directions. Subsequent to that, I became the head attorney of this office and became involved with reviewing the different loan applications and applications for contracting. That was very interesting. Q: Specifically, what does the SBA do and how did you come to be the District Director? A: The SBA was created about 50 years ago by the Small Business Act. The SBA provides service to small business in three areas. We provide financial assistance, we provide technical assistance to someone who has a business but needs help with their marketing plan or their accounting etc. A lot of people in business know about their product, but don’t know about the business side of it. Then we help with federal government procurement. The federal government, like any good consumer, buys a lot of products and services. By law, a certain percent of those contracts have to be awarded to small businesses. We oversee that process. As I got involved, and spent a number of years as the chief attorney, I enjoyed the work and saw a real value in it. I’ve always seen the tremendous impact that this agency could have on small businesses and minority businesses and other businesses just getting started. Q: What does the SBA branch in Glendale do? A: We provide the standard three types of SBA service of financial assistance, technical assistance, and assistance in contract procurement. By volume, we are the largest SBA office in the entire country. We’ve won numerous awards over the years. Last year, we financed 4,600 businesses in our tri-county area for about $1 billion. We lead the country in financing minority women-owned businesses and also procured about $750 million in government contracts for small businesses. In terms of training, counseling and technical assistance, we served about 41,000 businesses last year. We feel like we have contributed to thousands of jobs over the years in our service territory. Q: How has the SBA’s role changed over the years? A: We have become kind of a facilitator of collaborative efforts to help small businesses. In the lending program, we used to provide direct funding to businesses with federal money. Now, ultimately we direct the businesses if they are credit ready. We send them to a bank and the SBA guarantees the loan. Rather than providing the service directly, we manage a process that facilitates that credit. In all of our program areas, we’re managing the different resources, and the network of services that are available, whether it’s banks, different city or county agencies, or chambers of commerce, we assist in overseeing and managing those collaborations. We work with different chambers of commerce to help ensure that business stays in the city. The biggest challenge in every state is to retain businesses. We’ve transformed the agency from a direct provider of money to being a manager and an overseer of the various available resources. Q: How do you see the future of the SBA? A: I think the future is very positive. It’s exciting because we know the tremendous contribution that small businesses create for the economy. They create the majority of new jobs and make it possible for the innovations and the workforce in the industry. It’s no longer the case that the big corporations dominate industry. It’s becoming true nationally and globally. Entrepreneurship is really spreading throughout the globe. Ultimately, by supporting small businesses you provide jobs which help the economy grow. We’re trying to get our staff into the community on a daily basis. It’s no longer the case that we sit in an ivory tower, we’re out there. We do this constantly. We host small business recognition events and they’re very important. This is the way that people can see the impact of small businesses who can ultimately aspire to owning their own small business. Q: What do you think of the optimistic economic figures being forecast for the San Fernando Valley? A: I believe that those projections are likely to be realized. We know that the Valley is a high growth area and has been for some time. We also think that ourselves, banks, economic development organizations, and the people themselves, need to get involved and support that growth. Just because we have people moving into the area and having business growth doesn’t mean it’s going to be sustained. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be the kind of business growth that we want to see. There are types of jobs you want to see. I think that the projections are very realistic. Certainly, the influx of more people into the Valley will help. Where there are more people, history has shown us that there’s more business development. Q: What are your career goals? A: My career goals have always been focused on providing service to the community. I’ve dedicated my life to that effort. As I look out on the horizon, I plan to continue to do that. On a daily basis, I’m excited to collaborate with the VEDC and the different chambers of commerce, ethnic business groups, women’s business groups, and industry trade groups. There is a tremendous vitality with those organizations. Having had some longevity in this job, I’ve been able to have good working relationships with many people. I want to take our services into different places in the community. It’s also important to me personally to work with minority communities that need jobs. Q: What do you see for yourself in the future? A: I have a lovely wife and a wonderful son who will be 13 this August. I’m a family man and I spend a lot of time at the office. It requires a lot of effort, but I see myself being involved with my family and enjoying their presence. SNAPSHOT: Alberto G. Alvarado Title: District Director, Los Angeles office of the Small Business Administration Born: 1952, Los Angeles Education: Salesian High School, East Los Angeles, Yale University, major political science, Stanford Law School Career Turning Point: Realizing his scholastic aptitude his first semester of high school when he received a report card with mostly A’s and few B’s. After that, he never got another B. Most Admired People: Cesar Chavez, Mahatma Gandhi, Robert F. Kennedy Family: Married for 18 years, son 13 years old Hobbies: Playing basketball

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