After further thinking, I believe that this may be a unique opportunity to promote micro- business entrepreneurship without any loss of funding, if we make the correct strategic decisions and fully understand the nature of the GAO criticisms.
I’m presently undertaking a careful analysis of the GAO study with staff, I believe we can identify the best programs and urge that they be better funded.
The micro-business industry is thriving because of access to capital and business technical assistance. In California for 2009, CAMEO’s members served 21,000 businesses that supported over 47,000 jobs, most of them start-ups. I’ll say that again. California’s underfunded micro-business industry created jobs in 2009, when the large corporations were laying off people. This bright spot in the economy needs to be nourished, not starved.
The GAO report points out that some programs that help micro-business may be duplicative. To CAMEO, that means that the right thing to do is to reorganize the programs efficiently so that the money can be used more effectively, serve more businesses and create more jobs.
That is why we support the establishment of a centralized center for entrepreneurial programs within the SBA to coordinate resources. In fact, if the SBA would demonstrate the will and commit to specific programs, we could even encourage the President to create a new cabinet position for the SBA!
I will be in Washington, D.C. during the week of March 14 to raise these issues and advocate for the preservation and enhancement of cost efficient and effective programs that support entrepreneurship and job creation. I hope to meet with key Democrat and Republican Congresspersons as well as Treasury and White House officials.
Please email me your thoughts on this critical issue. Be assured that all of us at CAMEO will continue our fight to create jobs in California.