SBA's Guide Aims to Help Businesses Plan and Recover From Disasters

This article was originally published on GT Perspectives.

Small and medium-sized businesses are focused on solving a problem for their customer by providing a service or product of the highest quality. While most businesses are focused on growing their sales, too many are not prepared for how an immediate disaster like a hurricane, earthquake, unseasonably cold weather or a pandemic can adversely impact their operations. A new document shows how these risks could disrupt business operations and planning for them will enable owners to rebound quicker and avoid a recurrence.

In announcing the launch of its Business Resilience Guide, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) says its publication serves as "a comprehensive resource for small business owners who may not be familiar with disaster preparation." The government agency whose mission is to help power the American dream of business ownership, adds that its "guide, which has six sections to plan and recover from disasters, includes best practices and template forms to help mitigate disasters for America's entrepreneurs and help them build back stronger."

The SBA's Guide correctly points out that "[w]hen disaster strikes, even the best run businesses can be impacted. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about 25 percent of businesses do not reopen after disasters. Some businesses can cope with adversity better than others – they are less disrupted by an event, resume operations sooner, recover faster, and adjust for the future based on their experience. These businesses are described as resilient."

What is more, "For a small business, being resilient involves understanding risks, planning for them, identifying employee needs and responsibilities, and ensuring back-ups and redundancies are in place. This Guide can help small businesses determine how to anticipate the impacts of a disaster on operations so disruptions can be minimized."

SBA's publication leads business owners through creating a robust resilience plan, covering crucial areas such as:

• Understanding their current landscape: This involves documenting essential operations and identifying dependencies.
• Identifying key partnerships: It is crucial for seamless business continuity to recognize and nurture relationships with important vendors, suppliers, and collaborators.
• Safeguarding vital resources: The guide emphasizes the importance of data backup, cybersecurity measures, and infrastructure protection.
• Strengthening financial readiness: Strategies for managing cash flow, securing emergency funding, and minimizing financial losses.
• Embracing proactive mitigation: This section delves into strategies for minimizing the impact of potential disruptions through risk assessment and mitigation tactics.

The last section on embracing proactive mitigation also includes an overview of the SBA's post-disaster lending programs that can help business owners mitigate the effects should their business be impacted by a disaster. "SBA loans can assist with expenses related to the repair or replacement of property and can provide support for essential business operations in the aftermath of a declared disaster. These low-interest subsidized 30-year loans have 0 percent interest for the first year as well as deferred payments for the first year after the loans are disbursed."

The Guide also mentions how the SBA "offers a mitigation option as part of the post-disaster loan program that enables a property owner to increase their physical disaster loan by up to 20 percent of the verified loss (or a maximum of $500,000) to pay for interventions that will make a property more resilient in the future. Mitigation reduces a property's risk of damage from future events so people can return to their home or business more quickly after a disaster. The section on embracing proactive mitigation also includes multiple examples of hazard mitigation efforts at different price-points."

Do you find SBA's Guide useful to help your business plan and recover from disasters? What would you add?

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of GT Perspectives, an online forum focused on turning perspective into opportunity.