Meeting with Small Business Owners and Business Groups in Mississippi

By Bruce LeVell, Region 4 Advocate

As the Region 4 Advocate for the SBA Office of Advocacy, it was a pleasure to have some students from the University of Southern Mississippi come and listen to the discussion. Dr. Faye Gilbert, The University’s Dean of their College of Business and Economic Development, brought our attention to key factors in business, highlighting access to capital, banking relationships, and local growth in the local area of Hattiesburg.

To add to the small business tour in Mississippi, I invited my social media followers to witness the faces of small businesses in Mississippi. Not only does the photography provide the other small business owners with a name to a face, but it also creates an opportunity for networking. The benefits of meeting at a venue, like the Chamber of Commerce, is the opportunity for small business owners, such as Southern Grounds Coffeehouse in Gulfport, to immediately see the resources that the Small Business Administration and the SBA Office of Advocacy have to offer them. They receive support, feedback and advice from experts in the field.

Bruce LeVell serves as the Region 4 Advocate for the SBA Office of Advocacy, representing small businesses in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. LeVell works with small business owners, state and local governments, and small business associations to bring the voice of Region 4 to Washington DC. He can be reached at Bruce.LeVell@sba.gov.