EVANS: Enouraging Small Businesses
Small business growth rates are low in Philadelphia; as Mayor, I will not only focus on developing a workforce for industry but on creating entrepreneurs as well. Since climbing the ladder to the middle class can be tough, I will support individual development accounts (IDAs), which can be used to start a business among other things.
The true advancement and path to financial security as well as closing the gap between rich and poor is to accrue savings and to build wealth.
In order to facilitate the process and ensure residents possess the necessary tools to start their own business, I plan to expand business support services. I will locate one-stop shop services in our neighborhoods across the city. Also, I will create a Small Business Training Alliance which will allow small businesses to join forces and apply for grants for job training to lessen the burden on these businesses.
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3 comments:
A city office to cut paper work and lower the cost of dealing with city agencies is important and saves money rather than costing money. Low-cost loans are a bad idea because the failure rate of startups is very high. If a bank won’t lend, how can civil servants do a better job of lending? If civil servants could sort winners from losers better than banks and venture firms, they’d be making millions in private-sector finance. A better idea is to sponsor training programs on product or service development, marketing, and financial management for people who want to start a business so that they don’t need these kinds of loans. Also, the entrepreneurs could use mentors and a support network.
Scratch my previous comment. I meant that comment for Nutter.
Training programs on the basics of entrepreneurship are essential. Della Clarke has been very successful with the West Philadelphia Enterprise Center and Temple has done well with its SBDC. Evens, however, falls into the trap of government grants and contracts. Della Clark points out that there is more money selling to the private sector. More importantly, other than Boeing with its commercial aircraft division, do you see a defense contractor that is successful in selling products to the private sector? Selling to government involves a whole different set of skills than selling to businesses or individuals. Focusing on contracts with or grants from the city leads to marketing skills for selling to a shrinking market and not skills that lead to long-run success in the marketplace.
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