On May 6 and 7, the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will co-host the National Small Business Week Virtual Summit, a free, two-day online event dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The summit is part of National Small Business Month’s celebration of small businesses and the vital role they play in the U.S. economy. This May’s celebrations come as small business owners and their advocates contemplate the impact of the federal government’s new trade and economic policies on their sector.
Citing SBA data, SCORE, the nation’s largest network of free, expert business mentors, says small businesses employ nearly half (45.9 percent, or about 59 million people) of the American workforce, helping to “fuel the national economy and [adding] to the rich fabric of communities nationwide.”
This month, SCORE celebrates not only the country’s entrepreneurs in general, but also the more-than 17 million businesses the organization says its volunteers have helped to start and grow since 1964. With a nationwide network of 10,000 volunteers from a wide variety of backgrounds and industries, SCORE mentors meet with entrepreneurs one-on-one at no cost to address each business’s unique situation.
“From rural farms to tech startups, mom-and-pop Main Street shops to manufacturers crafting made in the U.S.A. products, small businesses are both the heart and economic driver of this great country. SCORE salutes them for their innovation, their dedication and their passion. We are proud to have partnered with these incredible entrepreneurs for 60 years, providing critical guidance and support to help them overcome challenges, find success and achieve the American dream,” SCORE CEO Bridget Weston says in an official statement marking National Small Business Month.
The SCORE-SBA May 6-7 summit includes educational webinars on financing, marketing, business planning, artificial intelligence (AI) and more, plus networking opportunities. Other organizations will celebrate small businesses throughout the entire month with local, in-person events and online sessions for both seasoned business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. The US Chamber of Commerce’s website describes workshops and webinars entrepreneurs should register for during the month, as well as key things to do to grow their businesses.
Small business owners, minorities and non-minorities alike, typically face challenges that can range from inadequate knowledge of business topics like planning, marketing and cash flow, to avoiding burnout. This year, those challenges are compounded by concerns about actions of the administration in Washington, D.C., including tariffs; layoffs at SBA that could curtail the agency’s ability to help small business owners; higher costs for small business borrowers resulting from an increase in the fees lenders are allowed to charge small businesses for SBA loans; anti-immigrant policies that threaten small businesses dependent on immigrant workers; and, especially for minorities, the elimination of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).
With small businesses comprising 97 percent of U.S. importers and exporters—accounting in 2023 alone for nearly a third of U.S. imports and exports—tariffs, which hike the cost of foreign-made goods entering the country, as well as the cost of US-made goods sold to buyers overseas if reciprocated, are especially worrying.
For small importers of finished goods and components, the increased costs—whether eaten or passed on to customers—can be devastating enough to shutter their businesses. For exporters, retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries in response to those imposed by the US make their products less competitive abroad, reducing demand.
“We have heard from a historic number of small businesses who have made it clear: they need immediate relief from tariffs,” said Suzanne P. Clark, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “As each day goes by, small businesses are increasingly endangered by higher costs and interrupted supply chains that will cause irreparable harm.”
The Chamber has formally asked the administration to address the impacts of tariffs by granting automatic exclusions for any small business importer, establishing a process for companies to apply for an exclusion if the company can demonstrate that tariffs pose a risk to employment for American workers, and providing exclusions for all products that cannot be produced in the United States or are not readily available.
No doubt, all of these challenges and concerns will be front and center this month at the various gatherings aimed at celebrating and empowering the nation’s small businesses.
