DOVER, DE (August 20, 2018) - The new Delaware Founders Initiative is supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in Delaware, providing business development and mentorship services to startups and new entrepreneurs.
“We’ve worked with 46 entrepreneurs’ over our three-year history, and we’re continuing to seek out and to help Delaware’s risk-takers get off the ground to help rebuild our state, turning it into a destination for ideas, innovation and industry once more,” member Bill Topkis said.
COVINGTON, VA (August 17, 2018) - Governor Ralph Northam allocated Community Business Launch awards of $45,000 to five towns to fund training and business development support for entrepreneurs in rural southwest Virginia.
A portion of the funds will support The Gauntlet, a business competition modeled after NBC’s Shark Tank to win seed money.
“We look forward to new businesses opening and current businesses expanding throughout these communities that will only enhance the vibrancy and quality of life in each of these downtown districts,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT (August 16, 2018) - Salt Lake City, Utah has the greatest concentration of young entrepreneurs in the United States, a new study cited in Fox Business found.
The city’s low cost of living and youthful population make it an ideal base for establishing a business.
COLUMBIA, SC (August 15, 2018) - South Carolina Community Bank rebounded from the financial crisis by developing a new network of Fintech partnerships.
“As a small bank, we don’t have a large innovation lab budget; we don’t have the thousands of people focused on product development that large banks have,” CEO Dominik Mjartan said. “But we do have some very good partners we’re working with that could really transform our ability to innovate and then scale the innovation.”
SIOUX FALLS, SD (August 14, 2018) - The states of South Dakota, Tennessee, Alaska, Michigan and Utah rank highest for being friendly and supportive to small business owners, according to a new national survey of 7,500 business owners.
BRIDGEPORT, CT (August 13, 2018) - The new initiative Urban Synergy in Action (USA) is building an incubator to provide office space and business development support to the growing tide of urban entrepreneurs.
“It’s important to see people who live in your neighborhood or reflect the demographic of the neighborhood, opening up businesses and having a slice of that American dream… of being able to contribute, create jobs and be a fabric of the community,” said the director of Bridgeport’s Small and Minority Business Enterprise, Fred Gee.
LINN COUNTY, OR (August 10, 2018) - Oregon’s Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network will begin funding entrepreneurs and startups in eight participating towns in Linn and Benton Counties.
Corey Wright of RAIN aims to build new entrepreneurial ecosystems in the area, with the use of asset mapping.
“I figure out what types of resources are available and what doesn’t exist, that might be used by local entrepreneurs," Wright said. "Let’s say there are several people in Brownsville making specialty food products in their homes. Is there a local commercial kitchen with whom they could contract to expand their production capabilities?”
TULSA, OK (August 9, 2018) - Black women-owned businesses in Oklahoma grew 160 percent from 2002-2012, a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City found.
The Kansas City Federal Reserve hosted an event for regional business owners to share their experiences and concerns. Chief among their concerns were challenges with credit, as well as lack of access to mentorships and business development information.
"You could see the palpable energy in that room when they talked about their experience as owners and what they had to go through to do what they needed to do,” said Dell Gines of the Kansas City Federal Reserve.
Source: Montana Public Radio
HELENA, MT (August 7, 2018) - Montana leads the United States in entrepreneurship, according to a new study by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana.
More than ten percent of Montanans own a business as their primary job, compared to the national average of six percent. Approximately 3,400 Montanans launch a new business every month, and more than half of all businesses opened in 2011 were still open five years later.
"Industries wax and wane. The entrepreneur's job is to kind of say, ‘Oh hey, that industry over there is on a downturn. That means there's some capacity that’s going un-utilized here. Let me see if I can figure out how use that to do something else,” said researcher Bruce Ward. "We create a lot of seeds, those seeds germinate and tend to survive."
VERGENNES, VT (August 6, 2018) - The previously quiet town of Vergennes, Vermont has seen a boom in new businesses since the town was declared an “opportunity zone”, encouraging investment in local businesses.
The program offers tax incentives to investors who fund businesses based in the zone. Vermont now has 17 opportunity zones that include 85,000 people and 7,000 local businesses.
"Now, this is a destination," business owner Jeannie Pelsue says. "We've got fabulous stores and people come from all over."
PROVIDENCE, RI (September 4, 2018) - The Rhode Island Coalition of Entrepreneurs formed to offer events, community-building and business development training for founders and CEOs of new startups throughout Rhode Island.
“One of the things that has always struck me as odd is most entrepreneurs here in town don’t know each other,” founder Pat Sabatino said. “I’ve had instances of talking to people who had adjacent products and offices less than a mile apart, and they didn’t know each other.”
NEW YORK, NY (August 3, 2018) - The New York Department of Financial Services submitted recommendations for regulating predatory online lenders this week, now being reviewed for legislation by the governor and state legislature.
The DFS promotes better protections for borrowers and the expansion of usury laws and licensing requirements for all online lenders, who have previously been exempt from standard lending regulations.
DUBUQUE, IA (August 2, 2018) - The city of Dubuque, Iowa launched a new program providing business loans for moderate and low-income business owners in the downtown area.
"For us, it’s a great opportunity to look at the Central Avenue corridor and kind of begin to fill some of the store fronts that are there as we go forward with some redevelopment," said Dubuque Economic Development Director Maurice Jones.
The city is providing $150,000 of loans in $35,000 increments as a starting point.
COLUMBUS, OH (July 27, 2018) - A new bipartisan bill passed in Ohio prohibits loan interest rates and fees from exceeding 60 percent of the original loan, as well as ensuring that monthly payments do not surpass seven percent of monthly income.
Ohioans pay some of the highest rates for payday loans, with average interest rates over 500 percent.
“HB 123 provides a fix to a loophole that has allowed predatory lenders to rig the system against working Ohioans,” said state Representative Michael Ashford, one of the bill’s sponsors. “These protections put money back into the pockets of consumers and gives them a chance to get a fair deal for an opportunity to get ahead.”
CHESAPEAKE BEACH, MD (May 16, 2018) excerpt via BLACK ENTERPRISE - Eighty-seven percent of small business owners support measures that would protect against predatory lenders and boost the availability of traditional loans, according to a new study by Small Business Majority.
Predatory lending costs Americans an incredible $25 billion each year. The lack of transparency and integrity among online lenders is a major concern: three out of four small business owners support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which works to regulate lenders and financial service providers.
“Online lenders are largely unregulated and can take advantage of small businesses that are desperate for capital,” said Sharon Levy, owner of Taking Tea InStyle in Princeton, New Jersey. “Small business owners simply don’t have enough good lending options, which is why we need better policies in place to give small businesses a level playing field and a safer environment in which to conduct business.”
Research shows that small business owners prefer to secure financing from trustworthy, traditional sources over predatory online lenders. 77% of small business owners desire a policy to increase the amount of small business loans from credit unions, and 62% support policies that require banks to invest in low-income communities.
“Far too many entrepreneurs have difficulty obtaining the capital they need to start and expand their business,” Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer said. “When they are able to get financing, they need that capital to be safely and responsibly administered. As these poll results show, small business owners are strongly supportive of policies and institutions that increase the availability of small business loans from traditional sources like small banks and credit unions, while also shielding them from predatory lending practices.”
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE (May 11, 2018) excerpt via CNBC - Small business workers saw their earnings grow at the highest rate in two years, according to a new Paychex report.
Hourly earnings increased by an annual rate of 3.25%, the study found. Among the 50 states, Tennessee placed first for small business job growth, and Arizona saw the highest hourly-wage growth.
"The low unemployment rate is contributing to steady increases in wage growth," Paychex CEO Martin Mucci wrote. "With tightening labor conditions and wages continuing to show positive momentum, business owners and HR managers will need to focus on recruitment and benefit strategies to attract and retain qualified talent."
TWIN CITIES, MN (May 9, 2018) excerpt via THE STAR TRIBUNE - Confidence is surging among Minnesota small business owners, who are investing in their businesses at higher rates, according to the new U.S. Bank Small Business survey.
The study found that 70% of Minnesota business owners had a positive outlook for their business, and 57% anticipate higher revenue in 2018.
"The small business economy in the Twin Cities is doing great, and most industries are surging, including manufacturing, construction and services," said Craig Veurink, U.S. Bank’s regional manager. "We are seeing more expansion and equipment purchases coming from business owners who already have felt the tax change or are anticipating it, especially at the smaller firms."
AUGUSTA, GA (May 7, 2018) excerpt via THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE - Small business lending is at an all-time high in Georgia, according to a report by the Georgia Small Business Administration.
The SBA reported that $1.41 billion was loaned to small businesses in Georgia in 2017. The state has nearly one million small businesses, which account for 44% of private sector jobs.
“The lending environment is much better than it was 10 years ago,” Drew Tonsmeire of the Small Business Development Center at Kennesaw State University told The Augusta Chronicle.
TAMPA BAY, FL (April 28, 2018) excerpt via TAMPA BAY TIMES - Small businesses in Florida are growing but their top concern is finding skilled workers to hire, a Florida Chamber of Commerce study reports.
“Businesses continue to tell us that in order to expand and to be competitive, they need access to a talented workforce,” said Jerry Parrish, chief economist and director of research for the Florida Chamber Foundation.
Image by Inside Tucson Business
TUCSON, AZ (April 26, 2018) excerpt via INSIDE TUCSON BUSINESS - Community banks are critically important in Arizona, providing half of all small business loans in the state despite holding only seven percent of deposits.
A recent Harris poll revealed that 70 percent of Arizona residents place the highest trust in community banks, and yet large banks are increasingly dominating the market. As large banks typically invest their money worldwide, there is less money flowing through local banks into the immediate community.
“Credit unions and community banks are critically important as providers of credit to small businesses as they serve thousands of communities that are underserved, or not served at all, by larger non-community banks across the nation,” Michael Peel of Local First Arizona writes. “They provide a traditional approach to banking with a focus on using local deposits to reinvest in the local community through lending and retaining more dollars in our community through locally-owned businesses.”
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