http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/12/smallbusiness/chicago-rahm-emanuel-innovation/index.html?iid=SF_E_River
Nearly half of Chicago's workforce is supported by small business, and the mayor, Rahm Emanuel, is working to pass new legislation to support those small businesses. Some of the improvements being made in the city are availability to microcredit loans, streamlined approaches to open new businesses faster (the time it takes to open a restaurant in the city has fallen 33%, from 66 to 44 days), and reducing the number of business licensing types. This will save small business $1-2 million annually. The "Innovation Delivery Team" is the Chicago based program in charge of these and other changes. Its specific goal is to make it easier for small businesses to get started and succeed, and so far, it seems to be working well. According to the article:
"already, $1.4 million in micro-loans has been allocated to 160 business, 80% of which are minority-owned and 56% women-owned. These loans have helped create and retain 700 small business jobs."
It's nice to see small businesses becoming the focus of legislation. This article shows that small businesses can effect the economy also if the right help and policies are put into place. Helping these business save money and create jobs ultimately benefits us all.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a positive step for helping small businesses. With this small push from the government, small businesses should have a greater ability to survive and thrive in the marketplace and if they are able to be successful, they can have a serious positive effect on the economy. One thing that I'm not so sure about is the statement about giving the loans specifically to minority and female owned businesses. I hope the loans were given because these businesses have the best best groundwork for a business and have the greatest chance to succeed, not because of their race or gender. If the loans given were in fact merit-based, that is terrific news because unfortunately there are situations where someone may not be able to open up a potentially great business because of their race or gender. If they were not merit-based, I hope this plan doesn't backfire on Mayor Emanuel if the businesses receiving the loans got them because of a sort of affirmative action and they end up failing. That little detail in the quote is but a small piece of a solid plan to help small businesses and I really hope to see this work and maybe its success can spread to other cities.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see that a large city like Chicago has such a reliance on small businesses. While large corporations do tend to employ more people, small businesses have a higher rate of capital turnover, leading to more money in the local economy. It's good to see that this is happening in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read the article summary I was worried about where the money to fund this was coming from and what would happen if these small businesses failed and a large majority could not repay their loans. As I read the article, I learned that only $2 million of the cities money was spent, used as seed money to try and raise more loan money for the businesses from other lenders. Also, the Chicago’s Innovation Delivery Team received a grant of $6 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies. So they are not relying on general revenue or debt financing. Since no one institution seems to have significant risk, I see only positives from this article.
ReplyDeleteAccording to one article, small businesses present new employment opportunities and serve as the building blocks of the United States' largest corporations. Thus, this legislation for small businesses in Chicago will benefit employment numbers and new business opportunities.
ReplyDeleteI think this is great. Opening the door wider for small businesses will stimulate the economy and increase job opportunities. According to an article from CNN Money, small businesses are one of the main contributors to the opening job market. If more people are employed, more will spend, not only increasing the employment rate but consumer spending as well, stimulating the not only the local economy but those all around the country.
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a great move by the government. Chicago is a city where a lot of immigrants and people from various ethnic backgrounds live, and so the number of small businesses, especially family owned ones, is relatively large compared to those in a lot of other US cities. I feel, owing to these beneficial policies from the government side, a lot of other Chicago residents will also be interested in staring new businesses. This is gradually new jobs and therefore help tackle unemployment in the city to some extent. This will ultimately assist the local economy.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is very positive for the city of Chicago. The small business market of Chicago are thriving because of this. This will not work in many cities, but it works very well in certain cities such as Chicago. This will help their unemployment rate and will boos the economy of Chicago.
ReplyDeleteThis is great to see happening in my home city. With many incentives to start a business, people that want to have all the tools they need to do it. The only downside is many of these micro loans might be given to people that do not know how to use the money and default on the loan. Hopefully that doesn't happen because these are great policies to help the city of Chicago.
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