Bay Area Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders

About BAAGGL

The Bay Area Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (BAAGGL) is a non-profit corporation dedicated to advancing the development and growth of the SBA Loan Programs.

The concept of BAAGGL started in 1989 in the San Francisco Bay Area with Wayne Evans of Small Business Lending, Nick Costa of Cupertino National Bank, Les Crabb of California Business Bank, and Howard Hoover of Coast Commercial Bank.

Its original mission was to assist private lenders in understanding and implementing the SBA loan programs. BAAGGL and SBA worked together to stimulate private sector interest in SBA lending. BAAGGL training allows lenders to learn the nuances of government guaranteed lending in a friendly environment, despite the competitive banking atmosphere. The ultimate beneficiary of BAAGGL’s successful partnership with SBA has been the local small business community. Each year, SBA lenders make approximately 1,500 loans worth more than $500 million to Bay Area Businesses. Most of these are done through the Preferred Lender Program (PLP) or expedited loan programs with very little SBA involvement. The BAAGGL training program allows lenders to quickly achieve preferred status.

Today its core mission continues to focus on lender training. Quarterly membership meetings are held along with an annual conference. BAAGGL also participates in monthly "Getting Ready for Financing" workshops in connection with SBA and SCORE.

BAAGGL has proven that the private sector can effectively partner with the government and other organizations to creatively assist small businesses. Currently BAAGGL has almost 150 members from all parts of Northern California. Its membership has been expanded to include non-bank lenders, 504 Certified Development Companies (CDC), and lending resource partners such as appraisers, accountants, environmental companies, insurance representatives, mortgage brokers, and many others. Complementary memberships are offered to other SBA resource partners such as the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and the Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE).

Due to the generous contributions of its members, BAAGGL, along with other co-sponsors such as Microsoft, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, Chevron, and UUNET, helped to establish the San Francisco and San Jose Entrepreneur Centers. These are "state of the art" technical assistance and counseling facilities that assist small business entrepreneurs. They were also a major sponsor and contributor to the Small Business Network and Juno Ventures "Welfare to Work" initiative, which was a huge success.

In 1998 a remarkable partnership was created between BAAGGL and the Bay Area Micro Loan Program, which is operated by the Oakland Business Development Center (OBDC). BAAGGL members recognized that their primary loan products – 7(a) and 504 loans – were not well suited to reach early stage businesses seeking SBA loans of $35,000 or less. The Bay Area Micro Loan Program was funded by SBA, but the required Loan Loss Reserve and the marketing and administrative costs of the program were not. BAAGGL stepped forward to provide these funds.

First and second year contributions from more than 40 members totaled over $600,000. In its first two years of operations, the program made over 60 loans worth over $1 million to Bay Area businesses. 85% of the loans were to women and minority business owners.

BAAGGL’s flexibility and leadership was key in making this "one of a kind program in the nation" such a success. In Fiscal 2000, the Bay Area Microloan Program was selected to receive the national New Markets Lending Award for Micro Lender of the Year. The award recognized the program’s outstanding assistance and commitment to women and minority entrepreneurs in its first year of operation.