Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices Announces “Small Business. America’s Future.” Policymaker Series
- From Dial-Up to Digital: Modernizing Yesterday’s SBA for Today’s Small Businesses
- Hundreds of Small Business Owners Across the Country to Meet with Federal, State and Local Elected Officials to Discuss Actionable Policy Solutions to Help Small Businesses Succeed in 2023 and Beyond
NEW YORK, NY, January 19, 2023 – Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices today announced the new “Small Business. America’s Future.” policymaker series, which will feature dozens of small business owner meetings with elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels of government over the coming year. The series will elevate issues important to the small business community, propose actionable policy solutions for lawmakers to help small business owners succeed today and into the future, and offer opportunities for small business owners to partner with lawmakers to make those solutions a reality.
The series begins this week with lawmaker events in Utah and California. On January 18, Utah small business owners met with Members of the Utah State Legislature, including Speaker Brad Wilson and Leader Mike Schultz. On January 20, Los Angeles-area small business owners will meet with U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez and tour a local small business. Dozens of other elected official meetings will be scheduled over the course of the year.
“The last time the Small Business Administration was modernized and reauthorized by Congress, we were using dial-up internet,” said Joe Wall, National Director of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices. “Small business owners were forced to adapt and innovate during the pandemic; now it’s time for the Small Business Administration to follow their example. The Small Business Administration needs to be accessible, efficient, and modern. As the world of small business continues to change in the post-pandemic economy, small business owners are calling on Congress to modernize yesterday’s Small Business Administration for the economy of today and tomorrow.”
In 2021 and 2022, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices held a “Road to Recovery” series where graduates of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program hosted elected officials at their businesses to discuss the long, challenging road post-pandemic. In 18 months, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices hosted more than 75 meetings in 19 states between more than 250 small business owners and their policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels.
The “Small Business. America’s Future.” policymaker series will build on prior years’ roundtable meetings with a focus on the future of small business in America and the increasingly urgent need to reauthorize and modernize the Small Business Administration for the first time in 23 years to address the small business challenges of today and tomorrow. The “Small Business. America’s Future.” policymaker series will emphasize the need for the Small Business Administration to:
- Modernize technical assistance and entrepreneurial development programs to reflect today’s technology;
- Ensure that access to capital programs meet the various financing needs of small businesses to continue to grow and attract investment;
- Expand federal procurement opportunities for more small businesses to do business with the government;
- Build a more responsive customer support center to ensure that questions and inquiries do not go unanswered; and
- Develop a 21st century communications and marketing strategy to bring more awareness to the resources available for small businesses.
In November 2022, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices launched a new campaign to reauthorize and modernize the Small Business Administration. More than 3,000 small business owners from all 50 states called on Members of Congress to work together on legislation reauthorizing the SBA.
In March 2023, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices will release its annual policy report with the Bipartisan Policy Center. This policy roadmap will detail the reforms needed for small businesses to grow and succeed well into the twenty-first century.
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About 10,000 Small Businesses
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses launched over a decade ago to provide best-in-class business education along with access to capital and support services. It has reached more than 12,800 small business owners across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. to date. Learn more at www.gs.com/10ksb
About 10,000 Small Businesses Voices
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices, which in April marked its two-year anniversary, builds on this initiative and organizes program participants to advocate for policies that matter to them. Learn more at www.gs.com/10ksb-voices
About Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services across investment banking, securities, investment management and consumer banking to a large and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.