Small Business Majority has created a comprehensive state policy agenda to ensure entrepreneurship is at the center of a thriving and inclusive economy in Missouri. The state’s more than 520,000 small businesses employ 1.1 million people (about half of the private workforce) and created more than 32,000 jobs.
On January 23, Small Business Majority Public Policy Director Awesta Sarkash sent a letter on behalf of the Responible Business Lending Coalition to Missouri Senate Committee on Insurance and Banking Chair Sandy Crawford in opposition of SB753 as introduced. The Commerical Financing Disclosure Law fails to include annual percent rate (APR) requirements which would provide small business owners with the transparency they need to make informed decisions about financing products.
When Dr. Shelley Cooper launched her telehealth consulting business Diversity Telehealth LLC in Kansas City, Mo. in 2015, she knew she’d face an uphill battle due to the nature of her work. “‘What is telehealth, and how does it work?’—Those are the questions I get all the time,” says Dr. Cooper. “But I’m here to tell you about the lifesaving benefits it can provide, and why you should care about it.”
Kansas City-based wedding florists Lily Williams and Betsy Ford are on a mission to express love through flowers. But over the past few months, the coronavirus pandemic has forced them to adapt their business and serve their community by filling orders for funerals instead of wedding celebrations.
When you think of a harpy, you may picture a mythological half-bird, half-human creature. However, Harpy Information Technology Solutions in St. Louis is named for a very real bird—an eagle—found in South and Central America. Co-owner Laurie Calkins describes the harpy eagle as an incredibly majestic bird and says she was drawn to it because of its unapologetic hunting techniques.
“They go for what they want and they get what they need, no questions asked,” she says.
Small Business Majority submitted comments to the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance in response to a request for information (RFI) regarding the opportunity for the state to request 1332 state innovation waivers through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The comments discussed the current landscape for small business healthcare and how state waivers must be structured in a way that do not increase costs for some consumers or create parallel marketplaces.
Policymakers at all levels, from town councils to the halls of Capitol Hill, emphasize the challenges of small businesses as a key talking point during political debates. But new opinion polling in four states—Illinois, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin—reveals small businesses feel their government officials don’t actually understand their challenges, and they support a wide array of policies to address their needs, some of which might come as a surprise to their elected officials.
Small Business Majority has created a comprehensive state policy agenda to ensure entrepreneurship is at the center of a thriving and inclusive economy in Missouri. The state’s more than 520,000 small businesses employ 1.1 million people (about half of the private workforce) and created more than 32,000 jobs in 2015.
Small business owner Natalie Dubose recounts the night of Nov. 24, 2014, like a scene out of the movie “Independence Day.”
“Every shop in downtown Ferguson leading up to mine and past mine was destroyed. I found furniture from the law firm across the street, that the protestors had used to break the windows,” she said.
Copyright © 2006-2024 Small Business Majority, All rights reserved. Small Business Majority is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization.