About San Juan District Office

As the federal government's representative to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the SBA's Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands District Office's mission is to maintain and strengthen the economies of both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands by aiding, counseling, assisting and, protecting the interests of small businesses and by helping businesses and families recover from disasters.

The District Office is committed to being the leading catalyst for economic development and disaster assistance. As a primary vehicle for financial and management and technical assistance, we will focus our efforts on encouraging a greater participation of our lending institutions and resource partners, to increase the small businesses' access to capital. We will promote all of our services, including federal procurement opportunities. We will offer targeted outreach that will enable us to provide educational programs and counseling, and ensure that our employees and resource partners are able to provide the highest quality of service. We are determined to reach out to small businesses in an unprecedented way, to listen to their needs and to report these needs back to the Administrator, and suggest appropriate initiatives to help small businesses.

Services Available

Over the years, the SBA has developed many small business loan and assistance programs, special outreach efforts and initiatives to aid and inform small businesses. The following describes briefly all the services and information available through this office:

• Financial assistance for new or existing businesses through guaranteed loans made by area bank and non-bank lenders.

• Free counseling, advice and information on starting, better operating or expanding a small business through (SCORE) Counselors to America’s Small Business.

• Assistance to businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals through the Minority Enterprise Development Program.

• Women's Business Ownership Representatives are available to advise women business owners.

• Special loan programs are available for businesses involved in international trade.

• If you're a veteran, you can get business counseling and information about SBA guaranteed loans.