05.04.16
Stop Dreaming–Start Doing: Celebrate Entrepreneurs During Small Business Week
By: Karl R. LaPan, President & CEO, Northeast Indiana Innovation Center
As you may know, National Small Business Week is underway. The annual event, hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration May 1-7, is designed to recognize the nation’s top small businesses, entrepreneurs, and business advocates. We have good reason to be proud of our nation’s independent workforce, and the more than 49 residential client companies employing over 179 people, on our campus who are building and growing at the NIIC. After all, as major economic impact studies conclude, “small businesses are responsible for creating nearly two-thirds of net new jobs in the United States each year.” Their impact cannot be overstated. Consider these other facts:
- The 28 million small businesses in America account for 54% of all U.S. sales of which only 200,000 are deemed high growth.
- Small businesses provide 55% of all jobs and 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970s.
- The 600,000 plus franchised small businesses in the U.S. account for 40% of all retail sales and provide jobs for some 8 million people.
- The small business sector in America occupies 30-50% of all commercial space, an estimated 20-34 billion square feet.
- In Northeast Indiana, over 90% of all business establishments employ less than 20 people and over 64% of all business establishments employ less than four people. Small business is the economic engine of Northeast Indiana.
This year’s theme is “Dream Big, Start Small.” Events will be live-streamed and focused on a variety of entrepreneurial topics. In addition there will be workshops on ideation to commercialization, small business opportunities in the entertainment industry and exporting opportunities. Be sure to say thank you to entrepreneurs you run into because of them the cool jobs and companies of the future are being developed and launched in our community. Remember, entrepreneurs create and capture extraordinary value every day. We are extremely proud of our entrepreneurs on the NIIC Campus. They matter and make a huge difference in our regional economy and significant impact in our social sector.
There are free training webinars covering:
- Taking the Mystery out of Voluntary Benefits
- The Decline of Magstripe Cards—and What That Means for Your Business
- Cloud, Mobile, and Social: Great Apps and Services That Will Grow Your Business
- Access to Capital and Business Loans: Best Practices, Tips for Getting Your Business Financially Fit
To see the schedule and to register for the webinars or view live-streamed events, visit www.sba.gov/nsbw.
If you can’t participate in these events, don’t worry. There are plenty of other ways to grow as an entrepreneur. We’ve made it our mission at the Innovation Center to help you start, grow and accelerate your company. How can we help you? START! Now and find out how to become a client. Check out our videos that demystify the start-up process at START Videos
It simply may be the best move you can make personally for you and for your business!
