SBA's June Web Chat: Small Business Owner to Share Tips and Advice on Rebuilding After a Disaster

The SBA’s June Web chat series will highlight small business
owner Luis Yepéz, Jr., co-owner of Mainstream Global, Inc. in Lawrence,
Mass. Yépez learned that the Merrimack River had flooded while away on a
business trip in 2006. The company, a distributor of integrated circuits and
computer products, was housed on the banks of the Merrimack and sustained
severe water, debris and sewage damage. After losing hundreds of thousands
of dollars in inventory, the company received a disaster loan from the SBA,
which helped Mainstream Global stay in business.

WHO: Small business owner Luis Yepéz will host the June Web chat on
“Disaster Preparedness for Business Owners--An Inside Perspective,”
and give a personal account of how the company was able to stay in business
during a three-month shutdown, keep its entire staff on the payroll, and
ultimately rebuild after disaster struck. Yepéz will take questions and offer
tips and advice on how to best prepare for physical disaster, and how to lay
the groundwork for recovery.

WHAT: SBA’s Web chat series, provides small business owners an opportunity
to chat online about relevant business issues with experts, industry leaders
and successful entrepreneurs. Chat participants have direct, real-time access
to the Web chats via questions they submit online, both in advance and during
the live session.

WHEN: June 18, 2009, 1 – 2 p.m. ET

HOW: Participants can join the live Web chat by visiting www.sba.gov, and
clicking the “Online Business Chat” icon. Web chat participants may post
questions for Yepéz before the June 18th chat at
http://app1.sba.gov/livemeeting/jun09/.