Small business, big results

SMALL business is the constant heartbeat to a booming economy in Southeast King County.

Some of these small enterprises fall under the category of a microenterprise. These businesses may take care of your children, provide you with a haircut or manicure, cook your favorite ethnic food, or even fix your computer. Each tries to serve the community's needs while hopefully generating enough income to make ends meet. A microenterprise is a small business with up to five employees and startup capital needs of less than $35,000. Such businesses play a critical role to our local economy. A total of 163,329 microenterprises in King County employ more than 218,000, according to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity.

Most of these businesses typically encounter two significant barriers to success: denial of traditional commercial loans because of inadequate collateral or credit; and lack of access to business and technical training.

These needs have prompted the emergence of microenterprise-development programs to help with startup funds and business training. The mission of these programs is to help low-income families attain self-sufficiency, enter the mainstream economy and stay out of poverty.

Indeed, fostering a sustainable business is key. A simple one-time loan to start a business will usually not be enough for an entrepreneur to be self-sufficient. However, the chances for success increase dramatically when business training is attached.

One local microenterprise program is the Washington Community Alliance for Self-Help (WA CASH). It provides a business training course, microcredit-lending services from $500 to $15,000, technical business assistance, and peer support to enable low-income residents to start or expand self-employment ventures.

WA CASH is partnering with BuRSST for Prosperity, a local venture of the Northwest Area Foundation and the Children's Home Society making a long-term impact on family self-sufficiency in South King County. Together, we are developing a community-based business-training program to address the economic needs of low-income immigrants and refugees, their families and distressed communities. This program will use WA CASH's tested approach to train community representatives who, in turn, will train groups of potential entrepreneurs in their own languages and neighborhoods.

Another source of funding for microenterprises are community-development financial institutions, which provide financial products and services to people and communities underserved by traditional financial institutions. In one year, these financial institutions have financed 142 businesses and microenterprises, and created 982 jobs.

Microenterprise development is a proven strategy in poverty alleviation. Microenterprise allows resources and training opportunities within the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families system, workforce investment boards, local community and technical colleges, or partnerships with nonprofits. Unfortunately, changes to work-training requirements through the Federal Deficit Reduction Act make it more difficult for self-employment opportunities.

Supportive policies are needed to help small businesses succeed. Fortunately, this last session, the Legislature took positive action to remove barriers by requiring the local work-force boards to include entrepreneurial training. Sen. Claudia Kauffman, D-Kent, worked to establish a statewide microenterprise association.

Providing more opportunities for microenterprise-startup funds and training yields many benefits. A successful entrepreneur provides jobs, generates public revenue, keeps individuals off public assistance and instills hope to others who aspire to own a business. Most importantly, it breaks down systematic barriers low-income families face.

As a community, we should support these local businesses and continue to advocate for more resources to allow microenterprise-development programs to reach as many low-income residents as possible. If they prosper, so does every resident, visitor, investor and consumer throughout Southeast King County.

Who knows, maybe these microenterprises will become as successful as a certain local computer or coffee company.