U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono and Small Business Administration Administrator Isabella Guzman on Wednesday began visiting Hawaii organizations supporting Native Hawaiian and female-owned small businesses with the message that more federal support is on the way that will build on existing efforts to help them access federal support.

Before leaving Washington, D.C., for Hawaii, Hirono voted for the Inflation Reduction Act that’s intended to reduce energy and drug costs and address climate change that will help Hawaii small businesses with their energy and health costs, create new companies and spur existing ones “to really create our energy future,” Hirono said.

“This is a really good time to build on that network of businesses to access programs that the SBA has,” she said.

Hirono’s office said that Hawaii received $6.3 billion in SBA COVID-19 relief and $3.8 billion was used for 45,000 Payroll Protection Program loans for island small businesses.

Hirono, a member of the Senate Small Business Committee, accompanied Guzman on her first Hawaii trip as SBA administrator to underscore Guzman’s commitment to help “underserved small businesses,” especially those run by women and Native Hawaiians, Hirono said.

Today Guzman plans to meet with the Maui Economic Development Board, one of the state’s “community navigators” created to help small business access support from the SBA, including online resources, she said.

“We’re trying to get creative … and work locally with our other partners,” Guzman said.

Even as Hawaii’s economy rebounds faster than all predictions, small businesses across the country share the same challenges of workforce and supply chain shortages and inflationary pressures.

With SBA training and support, Guzman said, “they can survive at this time.”

On Wednesday, Guzman and Hirono met with:

>> The Native Hawaiian Organizations Association, a trade association that works on behalf of Native Hawaiian groups.

>> The Patsy T. Mink Center for Business &Leadership that serves as Hawaii’s only Women’s Business Center to help women entrepreneurs create and develop their businesses. The center was established by YWCA Oahu and the SBA.

>> The Hawaii Technology Development Corp. Entrepreneurs Sandbox in Kakaako that’s designed to spur innovation. The Entrepreneurs Sandbox features an area for town hall meetings and community gatherings, a digital media studio, work space and meeting rooms.

They then toured Iolani Palace, which Hirono said stayed open during the pandemic through more than $1 million in federal support.

They were scheduled to end the day at a Roy’s Restaurant, which kept about 500 employees on the payroll through more than $15 million in federal COVID-19 relief.