With Facebook’s initial public offering on Friday, it only reinforces the image of entrepreneurs as young, fresh-faced innovators willing to take risks, but as Small Business Administration Associate Administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development Michael Chodos tells us, that’s not always the case.
Sometimes startup founders have … wrinkles?
Chodos said, among many projects, his office is constantly creating tools to help small business owners, including those that have just retired from their first career.
“We’re seeing the largest demographic bubble in three generations now entering retirement,” Chodos said. “Many of them are not in a financial position to retire completely, so as they move onto the encore of their career they are starting companies with the skills they learned.”
Last month, in combination with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the SBA created Money Smart, a financial literacy toolkit for individuals and businesses to understand the basic terms and necessities of starting a business.
Along with helping seniors, Chodos said SBA is looking to further create tools for people wanting to start business in all walks of life, including working with the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Marine Corps to increase ways to help military veterans.
Chodos also said the SBA, which gave out more than $30 billion in small business loans last year, has expanded its mobile application to the Blackberry and Android platforms after originally launching on the iPhone.
“Our whole goal is to get the capital in the hands of businesses so they can grow,” Chodos said. “We want to get our message across with more outreach and more connections with other agencies to leverage what we know in order to help small businesses.”
