entrepreneurship

A recent research study suggests that diverse identity representation of website spokespeople increases the likelihood of attracting a higher proportion of prospective entrepreneurs.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced a combined total of $5.4 million in awards to innovation-focused entrepreneur support organizations with programs to support entrepreneurs researching and developing STEM-related innovations. The 2021 competition included two prize tracks with 84 winners for the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) and eight winners for the new SBIR Catalyst competition, which aims to spur investment in underrepresented communities within the innovation economy.  

The U.S. Department of Commerce is seeking applicants for the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE). NACIE advises the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on matters related to accelerating innovation and entrepreneurship, advancing the commercialization of research and development, promoting workforce development, and other related matters. NACIE is managed by the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Members will be selected based on their ability to advise the secretary on matters relating to the acceleration of innovation and the support for and expansion of entrepreneurship, and will serve for two years. 

Nearly 1 in 6 adults carrying outstanding student loan debt (1 in 3 among 18 to 29 year olds), with both the number of borrowers and the debt amount increasing in recent decades. Meanwhile, the share of new entrepreneurs aged 20 to 34 declined from 34 percent to 27 between 1996 and 2019, and a new issue brief from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation notes that among individuals who start businesses, higher levels of student loan debt are negatively related to business income and employment. Noting that the debt can directly affect an individual’s overall personal financial resources, and indirectly affect ability to start a business, the brief extends some considerations for decision makers who seek to respond to those challenges.

A new report from the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) highlights the impact of business and entrepreneurship courses at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), which have long served as bastions of cultural identity at many American Indian and Alaskan Native reservations and important economic drivers in these prominently rural areas. MBDA finds statistically significant evidence that TCUs with stronger business and entrepreneurship curriculum typically serve the most rural areas, and that these areas have higher levels of self-employment, median earnings, and higher rates of bachelor’s degree attainment than areas served by TCUs without strong business and entrepreneurship curriculum.

Building on top of the notion that diversity of industry is central to a region’s entrepreneurial success, recent research has noted that the personalities of people living throughout a region also play an important role in local knowledge spillover and the economic diversity of the area. The report, Entrepreneurship in Cities by Sam Tavassoli, Martin Obschonka, and David B. Audretsch, examines the relationship between a city’s entrepreneurial success and its ability to provide a favorable and connected environment for its residents through urban density and local psychological openness.

This week the Small Business Administration (SBA) released several funding opportunities to support and promote equitable and inclusive economic recovery for entrepreneurs and small businesses. The new Community Navigator Pilot Program will award $100 million to support regional “hub and spoke” networks in providing technical assistance, training, direct financial assistance, and other services to underserved small businesses. The Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) and the SBIR Catalyst Prize Competition (SBIR Catalyst) will provide a total of $5.25 million in funding for impactful and inclusive approaches for supporting entrepreneurs in conducting R&D.

Alabama is the latest state that is embracing innovation as a way to grow the state’s economy. On May 19, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation that grew from two top priority measures of the Alabama Innovation Commission — proposals discussed between SSTI and commission members in a meeting earlier this year. House Bill (HB) 540 establishes the Alabama Innovation Corporation, a public-private partnership that will serve as a catalyst for the state’s growing innovation economy, and HB 609 creates the Innovate Alabama Matching Grant Program that will promote research and development in the state. Both measures were passed unanimously in the state’s recently concluded legislative session. The initiatives are funded through the Education Trust Fund Budget (enacted May 11), with the Alabama Innovation Corporation receiving $4 million in funding, and the Alabama Matching Grant Program appropriated $5 million.

The Department of Homeland Security has recently announced its withdrawal of the previously proposed removal of the International Entrepreneur Parole Program. The program allows for DHS to use its parole authority to grant foreign entrepreneurs a period of authorized stay within the United States with the aim that their start-up business can serve as a public benefit through job creation and economic development.

Throughout the past decade, the Latino entrepreneurial landscape has experienced both a growth in average annual revenue and an increase in the establishment of new employer businesses. However, Latino business owners remain significantly less likely than white business owners to receive loan approvals from major banks, resorting instead to financing options that expose the business owners to more personal financial risk including personal and business lines of credit and personal home equity loans. The strengths and weaknesses of the Latino entrepreneurial environment are explored in the recently released 2020 State of Latino Entrepreneurship Research by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative. The initiative gathered information from over 3,500 surveyed Latino owned employer businesses, alongside 3,500 white owned businesses, to examine the similarities and differences between the white and Latino entrepreneurial experience.