The SBA in Alaska: Big resources to help small business

The Small Business Administration may be the most unsung resource for entrepreneurs in Alaska.

The cabinet-level agency offers guidance and training for people interested in starting businesses, it guarantees loans, and — in some cases — it offers direct financing of up to $5-million.

Marichu Relativo is the deputy director of the Small Business Administration in Alaska. Speaking recently at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 22, Relativo told an inspiring story about her boss, the co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment.

“She’s Linda McMahon, the owner of the WWE,” said Relativo, putting up a slide of McMahon’s picture — a well-known face in pro wrestling. “She is a business owner herself. She started her business in her home with her husband, and did really well…. she had a successful business but, guess what? It went bankrupt. They lost everything. In fact she was pregnant with a child when the repo people came and took her car away. Did they give up and say, ‘Okay, we’re not meant for a business’? No, they put their feet on the ground and said ‘Let’s do this again,’ to where they are at today: multi-billionaires.”

Relativo is originally from Guam and the Philippines, but has spent the past three decades as a civilian employee of the military, where she specialized in government contracting.

She explained that government contracts were a potentially lucrative area for small businesses, and didn’t require infrastructure or inventory. She said that contractors often supplied small orders — like 150 Fitbit watches — by simply acting as the middleman between the manufacturer and the government.

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