Isabel Casillas Guzmán Wants to Boost Businesses for All Americans

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The Latino population has been increasing in the U.S. for years but hadn’t seen a corresponding increase in Latino-owned businesses created—until now. That change is in no small part thanks to Isabel Casillas Guzman, administrator of the Small Business Administration since she was confirmed to President Joe Biden’s Cabinet in March 2021.

On Guzman’s watch, SBA-backed loans to Latino-owned small businesses have doubled. SBA-backed loans to Black-owned small businesses, meanwhile, have more than doubled, and SBA-backed loans to women-owned ones have increased by 70%.

Guzman, who is Mexican American, grew up working at a small business: her father’s veterinary practice in East Los Angeles. She says she spent many Saturdays there seeing how his connection to the Latino community and his Spanish-language skills helped him build strong relationships. After college, she started a few businesses herself, including a print production studio that she had to shut down in the aftermath of the Great Recession. “That experience really helped me understand the challenges small businesses go through,” she says.

Guzman, 54, thought she wanted to enter the corporate world and didn’t start working for the government until her friend Maria Contreras-Sweet, founder of ProAmerica Bank, was appointed to be the head of the SBA under President Barack Obama. Guzman became the deputy chief of staff under Contreras-Sweet, which she says helped her learn the ropes of the agency.

As head of the SBA, Guzman has overseen a transformation in the way that it interacts with business owners, using technology and education to help more people access nonprofit and bank loans backed by the SBA. Overall, the changes have resulted in more small-dollar loans and more loans to underserved communities, according to the SBA. She granted new licenses to companies that lend to historically underserved markets, filling gaps where companies struggled to get capital, and she regularly travels to meet small-business owners and educate them about the services the SBA offers. The efforts have been key for small businesses in an economy where it is becoming more difficult to get affordable loans. “I don’t think it’s too trite to say, ‘I’m from the federal government and I’m here to help,’ when I work for the SBA,” she says.

Guzman identifies strongly with the Mexican American community, but she says that’s not the reason she is advocating for more loans to underrepresented groups like Latinos. Small businesses with Spanish-language skills and contacts in other countries can leverage their connections to increase trade, bolstering the whole U.S. economy, she says. 

In March, D.C.-based political newspaper The Hill published an op-ed praising Guzman but also criticizing her for favoring underserved communities at the expense of older, white business owners. She says the SBA focuses on who its customers are—and women and people of color are starting businesses at the highest rates right now. Her job is to make sure they have the resources they need to continue. “It’s important for our democracy, our economy, and our global competitiveness,” she says, “that we make sure all Americans can be successful.”