New head of SBA in DE says landscape looks better The new head of the Small Business Administration in Delaware says while small businesses continue to face challenges, he thinks most would agree the landscape is improving. Tony Leta says there's some proof in the number, and amount, of small business loans the Delaware office has in play right now. "We've done 74 loans with our banking partners for over $35-million up through the end of April. If you look at a year ago, we did 66 loans, but only for $16-million. So our loan volume is up considerably on the dollar side. It's up a little bit on the unit side," Leta says. Leta says he thinks many small business owners remain tentative in terms of hiring and expansion. "I think they're still a little tentative to make further investments until they see things strengthen, or maybe in some cases they're waiting to what happens with the election so they can get more clarity. But overall, compared to where things have been in the past year or two, I believe most small businesses think things are looking up," Leta says.

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