How does the U.S. government help small and medium-sized enterprises solve the financing problem

First of all, a clear concept is that people do not say "small and medium-sized enterprises" in the United States. Generally speaking, from the perspective of government support and assistance, it is aimed at "small enterprises", and the relevant competent government department is also called "small business administration" (SBA). So let's just use the term "small business" below.
Small businesses of women and ethnic minorities receive financial assistance from the federal government (Small Business Bureau website)
Small businesses of women and ethnic minorities receive financial assistance from the federal government (Small Business Bureau website)
The standards of American small businesses are basically consistent with the North American industry classification system (maics). Except that a few industries use annual revenue as the measurement standard, most of them are based on the number of employees. In the latter, except that the dividing line of the wholesale industry is 100 employees, a few set the standard at 750 or 1000 people, and the vast majority of other industries employ less than 500 people, which is small enterprises.
If we take less than 500 employees as the standard of small enterprises, according to the data of the U.S. Census Bureau in 2008, there are 5.91 million small enterprises in the United States, accounting for more than 99% of the total number of enterprises employing employees, and the employees employed account for almost half of the total number of employees of private enterprises. There are also 21.35 million self-employed businesses in the United States, that is, enterprises without paid employees, which are often called "Mom and pop stores". Many world-famous brand enterprises, such as Microsoft, HP, Google, apple and Facebook, almost all developed from self-employed and garage companies.
Small businesses in the United States are highly competitive and financing is not easy. The federal and local governments provide assistance through government project bidding, R & D project grants, loans, loan guarantees, tax reduction or guarantees for the issuance of financing bonds for small businesses, etc.
If small businesses have the participation of socially and economically vulnerable groups, such as African American, Hispanic, Asian Pacific, Indian and subcontinental Asian American citizens, as well as women and veterans, as long as such groups own more than 51% of the equity of the enterprise, they can enjoy preferential treatment when competing for government contracts. Because it is a small enterprise, the contract amount is limited. The service industry is no more than US $4 million, the manufacturing industry is US $6.5 million, and the preferential time is no more than 9 years.
Small businesses have many ways to obtain government loans or loan guarantees. One of them is stipulated in Section 7 (a) of the small enterprise law, which is specifically aimed at export enterprises, enterprises in rural and remote areas, etc.
About 70% of American export enterprises employ no more than 20 employees. In order to encourage small enterprises to export, a number of preferential projects have been established under Article 7 (a). The export express program provides small businesses with loans of no more than $500000. The loan procedures are simple. It can be either a short-term loan or a revolving credit line. It can be used for overseas exhibitions, as a financing standby letter of credit and other export-related expenses.
Many American banks do not provide working capital advances for export orders, export receivables or letters of credit to export enterprises. Large enterprises have strong funds, while small enterprises are often deterred from exporting. Therefore, SBA established the export working capital program (ewcp) in accordance with Clause 7 (a) to provide guarantee for banks to provide export working capital to eligible small enterprises, with a maximum guarantee amount of USD 5 million and a guarantee proportion of 90%.
According to Article 7 (a), a foreign trade loan guarantee project has also been established to provide short-term loan guarantee similar to ewcp for small export enterprises or enterprises preparing to join the export ranks for fixed assets and working capital, with the purpose of improving the export competitiveness of these enterprises.
For those remote areas with population outflow, economic imbalance and high unemployment rate, in order to help community development, SBA established the rural lender advantage guarantee project in accordance with Clause 7 (a). The maximum guarantee amount can reach 350000 US dollars, the guarantee proportion below 150000 US dollars is 85%, and 75% if it exceeds 150000 US dollars. The enterprise and the Bank jointly apply for the loan guarantee, and the procedures are very simple. For the loan guarantee of no more than 50000 US dollars, only one form with both sides needs to be filled in.
The federal government has also allocated funds to establish a "certified development company" to provide loans of no more than US $5 million to small businesses. Among them, the enterprise itself undertakes 10% (20% in some cases), the bank provides 50%, and the small enterprise bureau provides 40%. If the enterprise fails to operate, it shall first repay the bank after asset liquidation and return it to the government if there is surplus.
The federal government has a small business innovation research program (SBIR) to support entrepreneurs who explore and adopt new technologies as long as they are American citizens. 11 ministries and commissions, including the Ministry of agriculture, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of defense and the Ministry of energy, allocate part of their R & D funds every year to support the entrepreneurship of small high-tech enterprises. Within half a year after the application is approved, no more than 100000 US dollars can be obtained to verify the feasibility of the new technology. After the verification is passed, it can get financial support of no more than 750000 US dollars to expand the experiment and evaluate the commercialization prospect within two years. The third stage is from the laboratory to the market. At this time, although SBIR no longer provides funds, it can be financed through private enterprises or other government projects.
In addition, the small enterprise bureau also has small loan projects of no more than 50000 US dollars, disaster loans, small enterprise subsidies, and measures such as providing tax-free treatment and guarantee for the issuance of bonds by small enterprises to help the development of small enterprises.