Melissa Angell

3 days ago | inc.com | Melissa Angell

In his role as Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed some controversial views—among them, vaccines aren’t effective and fluoridated water is unnecessary. Now, his denunciation of sugar—and his threat to take action against peddlers of it—has sent a collective chill down the spine of many a consumer packaged goods entrepreneur. In late April, RFK Jr. said “sugar is poison” and noted that “Americans need to know that.” He also threatened action.

1 week ago | inc.com | Melissa Angell

With a career on Capitol Hill spanning nearly half a century, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) has seen a lot—but nothing quite like what’s currently unfolding under the Trump Administration. From his perch on the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Markey, who serves as Ranking Member, must figure out how to preserve small business interests in an administration obsessed with cost-cutting. It’s no short order.

1 week ago | inc.com | Melissa Angell

There is something to be said for the fact that one of the marquee events for Small Business Week may go without its co-host, should President Trump’s current fiscal 2026 budget proposal be approved. For years, the virtual programming hosted by the Small Business Administration has often been co-hosted by Score, a network of business volunteers providing mentorship and other training. While Score receives funding from the SBA, it often punches above its weight.

1 week ago | inc.com | Melissa Angell

In an expected turn of events, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will no longer require financial institutions to gather demographic information on small business borrowers. The small-business demographic collection rule, which would have directed banks to collect data like race, gender, and ethnicity from lending applications, was supposed to kick in mid-July.

2 weeks ago | inc.com | Melissa Angell

The Small Business Administration is rolling back a swath of Biden-era underwriting policies that loosened borrower requirements for the agency’s 7(a) program. And that’s separate from the return of lender fees. The new standards will kick in on June 1, allowing lenders time to review and prepare for the changes. Much of the underwriting reverts to standards that the agency had in place for years prior to the pandemic, according to Jeff Scott, the president of SBA lending at Merchants Bank.