SMEs in South Puerto Rico will benefit from new partnership between SBA and DISUR

Ponce, Puerto Rico — The Alliance for the Comprehensive Development of the South, Inc. (Desarrollo Integral del Sur, Inc. (DISUR) in Spanish) and the federal agency the Business Administration (SBA), signed a strategic alliance in order to help strengthen and expand small businesses in the municipalities of the area south of Puerto Rico. The agreement will serve as motor to drive economic development for the south region of Puerto Rico.

 

DISUR and SBA are committed to providing guidance and assistance to small and medium enterprises who are in the process of starting a business.  As part of the agreement, SBA will provide information about the services available from the agency in the areas of finance, federal government contracts, and other topics of great interest for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).  For its part, DISUR will stimulate investment, increase the number of local businesses and export markets with the goals of job retention and job creation in the southern area.

 

The organizations will work together in a spirit of cooperation, communication and in strict compliance with the laws to meet the immediate needs of established and potential merchants.

 

The alliance, which was signed by Jose R. Sifontes, District Director of the SBA Office of Puerto Rico, and Viviam Y. Puig, DISUR Executive Director, will also enable the exchange of information between the two organizations for the benefit of the business community in the southern region.Interested parties may call or visit the offices of DISUR to obtain data and information about the programs offered by SBA and its affiliated organizations, among them Puerto Rico's Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) and Business Center for Women.

 

The alliance is one of DISUR's initiatives to become an central entity that allows employers to gather information about the region's municipalities as well the main institutions that regulate, promote and encourage business development in Island.Currently DISUR has signed an alliance with the Puerto Rico Trade (Compania de Comercio Importación y Exportación de Puerto Rico) and thirteen of the fifteen municipalities of the southern region. 

 

For information on how to start or expand a business and more information about the SBA programs and services available to the southern area, interested parties can communicate with DISUR at (787) -284-8424, http://www.disur. org, http://twitter.com/disurpr, and http://www.facebook.com/disurpr.

 

SBA's mission is to guide, assist and protect the interests of small businesses, providing financial business development assistance, while lobbying the government to look after their interests.

 

For its part, DISUR is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and maximize the competitiveness and sustainable socioeconomic development of the Southern Region. DISUR also integrates the efforts and resources of public, private, academia and the citizen who are residents of the southern area in order to achieve a better quality of life.The organization brings together the efforts of fifteen communities in south Puerto Rico: Adjuntas, Arroyo, Coamo, Guanica, Guayama, Guayanilla, Jayuya, Juana Diaz, Patillas, Penuelas, Ponce, Salinas, Santa Isabel, Villalba, and Yauco.