As part of this National Small Business Week, the number-two administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration is in Iowa today to meet with a host of small business owners to hear about their successes and concerns.
Bill Briggs is the SBA’s deputy administrator, and says entrepreneurship is a big part of what keeps our country running.
“Small businesses create two out of three new jobs. They represent over 99% of private sector firms and 98% of manufacturers,” Briggs says. “I’m meeting with an Iowa-based manufacturer today to talk about how the president’s economic agenda is helping Iowans.”
Briggs will visit Percival Scientific in Perry, a company that designs and manufactures custom research environmental growth chambers for colleges and universities, government institutions, and businesses worldwide. After touring Percival, Briggs will meet with other Iowa small business owners, lenders and stakeholders. He says the top challenge he continues hearing about is the lack of skilled workers.
“SBA launched its Made in America Manufacturing initiative last year to make sure that there’s enough folks entering into the manufacturing profession and helping them train them up,” Briggs says. “So we’re working with the Department of Labor to meet the workforce demands for the future, particularly in manufacturing. That’s something we hear a lot about.”
Briggs’ SBA bio lists him as a former small business owner. He says he ran firm that consulted with tech companies, financial institutions, and trade associations on strategies in technology and financial services. Briggs says he understands the challenges of too much regulation.
“That’s something that we’re focused on at the Small Business Administration is cutting back a lot of the regulatory excess from the Biden era, and we’re doing a great job at that,” he says. “Under President Trump, we’ve cut approximately 129 regulations for every new regulation, so we’re hopeful that that just makes the cost of doing business that much easier for all Iowans and all Americans.”
The leaders of Percival Scientific in Perry were named the 2025 Iowa Small Business Persons of the Year.