Access to capital

One D.C. entrepreneur made the rare decision to forfeit her high-paying career at a law firm and embrace her creative side by going into the kitchen and whipping up cake pops. That daring leap led Yael Krigman to open the area’s first-ever store dedicated to cake pops, a cakepoppery called Baked by Yael.

As a buttoned-up law firm associate, Krigman’s desire for a more lighthearted work environment began when she started a tradition known as “Monday Treats,” where she would bring in baked goods she made from scratch to counteract the doldrums of her office environment.

When Monica J. Scott touched down in Washington, D.C. on May 11, 2015, she had no idea the magnitude of the event she was about to take part in.

Gathering at our nation’s capital for Small Business Majority’s inaugural Small Business Leadership Summit, Scott was a member of a group of the best and brightest small business owners who came to voice their opinions to policymakers, hoping to institute real change that would benefit the greater small business community.

What happens when you put more than 100 small business owners in a room together to discuss the biggest issues facing small businesses today? That’s what we found out during our inaugural Small Business Leadership Summit, a three-day event of education, collaboration and action that took place May 11-13 in our nation’s capitol.

Small Business Majority CEO, John Arensmeyer

By all accounts, our economy is continuing on a path of recovery in the aftermath of the recession. And while this should signal good times ahead for our nation’s small businesses, entrepreneurs are still struggling to get what they need most to grow and thrive: access to traditional loans and more reasonable terms on alternative lending.

By Maria Contreras-Sweet
Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration

With apologies to baseball and your mother’s apple pie, nothing is more American than National Small Business Week.

The president’s State of the Union speech last night touched on many of small business owners’ key concerns, particularly increasing consumer demand by strengthening the middle class, closing corporate tax loopholes and ensuring open and fair Internet access for all. What’s more, the president highlighted the importance of small businesses and the middle class—the engine of small business prosperity.

There are many complex policy issues that have a major impact on the small business community. Each week, we’re going to help break one of those issues down so small business owners can stay in the know and remain aware of their stake in these national issues. This week’s Issue Q&A is on access to capital.

Ben Geyerhahn

They’ve been in the spotlight for months, and the attention small businesses got during the first presidential debate sent them into the stratosphere in terms of media coverage. So let’s try to answer the question a lot of people are asking: who are these small business owners everyone’s talking about?