Mike Austin is a retired small business lender with over 30 years’ experience in SBA loan-guarantee programs.
Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, he has been working for the Small Business Development Center of Hampton Roads and the Virginia SBDC Network under a grant from the TRUIST Foundation.
In response to economic devastation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal government created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help small business owners remain open.
This program’s funds were to be used to pay employees and cover costs associated with remaining in business. A unique feature of this program was the ability to have some or all of the debt forgiven as long as the borrower provided their lender and the SBA with proof the proceeds were used as required in the approval guidelines.