Cleveland|Local Event
On the Move: Achievers in Action Live Podcast on the Ohio Black Small and Micro Business Agenda
If you own a business in this region, this conversation is about your access to capital and your ability to perform a public contract and policy that will shape what capital, contracts, and capacity look like for every business owner in this room.
A micro-business is not a small business in miniature. SBA size standards run as high as 500 to 1,500 employees depending on the industry. A micro-business is commonly one to nine employees, often five or fewer, needing under $50,000 in capital. Roughly 88% of U.S. businesses are microenterprises and about 84% have no employees beyond the owner. In Ohio, small businesses are 99.6% of all firms — and the overwhelming majority of them are micro.
A program calibrated for a 200-person contractor and a program calibrated for a two-person shop are not the same program. When we treat them as one audience, the smallest firms get left out of tools that were supposedly built for them.
There is a second problem underneath it. Government does not pay at the speed of business. Prompt payment law calls for 30 days. What firms actually see is 45 to 60. For a business with no cushion, that gap turns a contract into a liability.
In 2024, 39% of Black-owned businesses were denied a loan, line of credit, or cash advance. For white-owned firms, that number was 18%.
Those gaps are not a talking points. It is the reason the Ohio Black Small and Micro Business Agenda exists — and it is what we are talking about September 14 on On The Move: Achievers in Action.
Join us for a live podcast taping featuring guest Trae Leak of Enlightened Consulting as he discusses the Ohio Black Small & Micro Business Agenda. This free event includes networking, refreshments, and an audience question table, but seating is limited so be sure to register in advance.