Shatz shares success as officials spotlight small business

John Howell
Posted 5/7/15

In 2006, when the housing market and development were booming, Frank Shatz & Company at 61 Dewey Street off Airport Road employed 22.

Today, the company that specializes in architectural …

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Shatz shares success as officials spotlight small business

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In 2006, when the housing market and development were booming, Frank Shatz & Company at 61 Dewey Street off Airport Road employed 22.

Today, the company that specializes in architectural woodworking to provide such custom designed work as nursing stations, office interiors and hotel and bank counters has a staff of 13. That’s three more than last year.

Randy Shatz shared that good news yesterday as Mayor Scott Avedisian, SBA Rhode Island District Office Director Mark Hayward and Lauren Slocum, president and CEO of the Central Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, spotlighted National Small Business Week, which runs through May 8.

This year’s national theme is “SBA: Dream Big, Start Small,” and events in SBA’s 10 regions and 68 districts will be held throughout May and June.

Shatz told his visitors that business has picked up in recent months, especially residential work, and that since the beginning of the year he’s added three employees. He said he could add more, but “talented help is very hard to find.” Some of his recent hires are graduates of the New England Institute of Technology. Avedisian suggested Shatz connect with the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center in his quest for qualified employees.

But while the company’s number of employees has declined, Shatz said technological advances have enabled the company to streamline operations and create efficiencies. The SBA has helped on that score.

In the SBA’s FY13, Frank Shatz & Company was among 46 Warwick companies with SBA approved loans. All told, Warwick’s approved loans totaled $10,781,500, part of a total of $68.6 million approved for businesses throughout Rhode Island at the time.

In the current fiscal year, Hayward said the SBA has written $10 million in loans to Warwick businesses. Hayward projects the SBA will write a total of $150 million in loans this year, up almost $40 million from last year.

“We have a lot coming down the line to benefit Warwick,” he said.

Both Avedisian and Hayward predicted e-permitting will facilitate the creation of new businesses while expediting the work of existing businesses. Warwick is one of 10 communities participating in a state program to bring online permitting. Hayward said e-permitting would “have government do business at the speed of business.”

“It’s going to standardize applications,” said Avedisian. “It’s all going to match up.”

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