Business owners can be excused for being too busy surviving to spend the time needed to fully understand differences between myriad state and federal grant and loan programs created in response to the pandemic. Yet those very programs could mean the difference in their survival or not.
That’s why PBN on Feb. 11 held its 2021 Coronavirus Business Stimulus Summit.
Mark S. Hayward, U.S. Small Business Administration Rhode Island District director, said the state has done well in the latest round of federal Paycheck Protection Program funding [$586.3 million as of Feb. 15]. But it may be a tough call for some businesses to even apply, if they aren’t sure they can meet all the requirements, he acknowledged.
For example, the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant may be a better alternative for some. But if you apply for PPP, you can’t get the grant.
Panelist Anthony J. Mangiarelli, partner at Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. Ltd., offered perhaps the best food for thought: “You can either strive to get full [PPP loan] forgiveness or … have a thriving, successful business.”
Put that way, which would you choose?