Last month, SBN kicked off its Entrepreneurs' Roundtable series, hosting Councilman Derek S. Green for a discussion on "Does the City Sustain Your Business” in which he described the small business community as an untapped resource in the City's efforts to combat inequality.
Considerable research supports this. Regarded as community institutions, small businesses hold a preeminent role in distressed communities. Dr. Stacy Sutton, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, attributes this social standing to small business owners implementing business strategies that address individualized community needs such as allowing payment arrangements for needy patrons and providing skill development to local youth through job experience.
Despite the tremendous benefits, Green believes the City has not placed enough emphasis on supporting small business. Lamenting his own business start-up experience, he characterized the regulatory process as the "wheel of un-fortune," recalling how he was reeled off from one
department to the next. Astonished by the difficulty he met given his institutional knowledge of City government, he struggled to imagine the immense trouble that ordinary citizens must face.
Stopping this wheel from spinning, however, will require tackling a multitude of issues, ranging from improving access to financing to easing the procurement process.
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Taking a Spin on the
"Wheel of Misfortune"