Women small businesses embody Made in America through the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America economic agenda. This agenda is fueling a Small Business Boom, exceeding 18 million business applications since 2021 led by women and people of color, with more than 494,000 filed in Michigan. It’s historically the strongest years of new business applications under the President Biden.
The Investing in America economic agenda represents once-in-a-century generational investments. Four bi-partisan laws signed by President Biden are spurring high demand for U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) free business counseling, non-predatory capital, and government contracting help. These laws include the American Rescue Plan Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. It’s small businesses doing the infrastructure work as they create good jobs for middle class and working families.
These laws represent structural public investments that rebuild roads, bridges, and airports, while catalyzing small business innovation to create the largest public benefit on record for green renewable energy, clean air, and safe drinking water.
Supporting women-owned businesses is an economic imperative to decrease the gender wealth gap and reduce poverty, particularly since research demonstrates that women-led businesses hire 2.5 times more females, thereby improving financial savings, wealth building, and wellness for communities historically facing systemic socioeconomic barriers.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda is strengthening Michigan’s workforce pipeline of women entrepreneurs across the skilled trades of child and family care services, manufacturing, electrical, construction and building trades and STEM, while tackling climate change and sparking technology innovation that benefits small businesses and their communities. Never has high intentionality and action occurred to reach diverse small businesses to ensure they access opportunities from more than 23,000 federal investments that dramatically improve how we work, learn, play, and live.
Embracing our nation’s diversity and inclusion is fundamental to Made in America and exemplified by four Michigan-based founders I’ve visited - women-owned, Black-owned, and Asian American-owned - who are leading the way in infrastructure investments and each has received SBA support. Tiffany Klingensmith of Unconventional Solutions Inc. focuses on sustainable protective coatings that eliminate waste. Deana Neely of Detroit Voltage, LLC specialized in electrical jobs and EV charger installation. Tarolyn Buckles’ Onyx Enterprise Inc., a construction engineering firm, is removing and replacing Detroit’s lead pipes.
Speaking of the boom, start-up chemical engineering and manufacturing firm Enspired Solutions, owned by Denise Kay and Meng Wang, is eliminating forever chemicals like PFAS in water. They illustrate the power of American women-made and small business with the SBA and our partners by their side.
SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman knows small businesses like these women need a starting place on infrastructure. She established the online resource Investing in America Small Business HUB (IIA Hub) at www.sba.gov/IIAhub. Women-owned manufacturers’ earnings increased 35% under the Biden-Harris Administration, and the IIA Hub can help them and hundreds more learn about green manufacturing matching grants up to $350,000.
The SBA’s IIA Hub can assist in contracting to support the growth of women and minorities in construction trades. For instance, it enables small businesses to secure contracts for installing affordable high-speed internet, crucial for nearly 23% of Michigan households requiring online access for work, school, business, health, and personal needs.
Investing in American means the SBA is taking a comprehensive approach across the whole of government. We’re collaborating with federal agencies, the Governor’s office, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, business groups, and community organizations. The SBA is meeting small business owners where they are—at construction sites, childcare centers, manufacturing plants, barber shops, museums, and even walking trails. This engagement helps all entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses with the SBA, leveraging its seven-decade legacy of supporting thousands successfully, particularly in infrastructure investments.
Learn more at www.sba.gov, and connect with us through the SBA’s Michigan District Office and Great Lakes Regional Office LinkedIn accounts.