SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet kicked off National Small Business Week 2016 on May 1st at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. at a dinner honoring “entrepreneurs, mom and pops, manufacturers, hackers, disruptors, and innovators”. SBA hosted events and celebrated entrepreneurship in the nation's capital, New York City, Denver, Phoenix, and the Bay Area with special guests. Events were live-streamed and archived videos are available through the SBA's YouTube channel.
In D.C., Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, co-founders of Equator Coffees & Teas, received the 2016 National Small Business Persons of the Year. After the event, Russell said, “Only in this country can you start in a garage and then fast forward to having ninety employs 350 wholesale customers four retail stores and continue to layer the company to add jobs”.
Entrepreneur and Shark Tank judge, Mark Cuban, told a crowd of small business owners, “You guys are the winners. You are the successes”.
Our My Brother's Keeper Millennial Entrepreneurs Champion, Mike Muse, was with us in Harlem at the world-famous Apollo Theater to have a dynamic conversation with Administrator Contreras-Sweet and a group of entrepreneurs on opportunities for young men of color to start their own businesses. Even Congressman Charles Rangel stopped by for a visit.
The SBA headed to the Midwest later in the week and was welcomed by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. He shared his small business story in which he was turned down by thirty-two banks.
Colorado Small Business Person of the Year recipient, Reed Silberman, said it best in his acceptance speech, “To me an entrepreneur is a leader-in-training.”
A focus of National Small Business Week was on our veterans and men and women in uniform. The Administrator spoke one-on-one with veterans in Phoenix, Arizona who have had success utilizing SBA resources like the Emerging Leaders Initiative.
In Oakland, we learned that the city has 90% of businesses with twenty or fewer employees. Mayor Libby Schaaf was on hand to declare Oakland, “a city of small businesses”. The Bay Area continues to be a hotbed of small business owners, particularly within immigrant communities in areas like San Jose, where the Administrator addressed a crowd of New Americans who own a business.
Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet and the U.S. Small Business Administration team are very proud to have concluded a successful National Small Business Week. A special thank you and congratulations to all the 2016 award recipients, finalists, and small business owners across the country.
For more information about National Small Business Week, please visit our YouTube and Facebook pages or follow #DreamSmallBiz on Twitter.