Counting the microenterprise

In New Hampshire, economic developers did a study of business ownership and found that 18.5% of all private, non-farm employment in the state was tied to microenterprises. A microenterprise is defined as a business that employs between one and five people, including the owner, and requires no more than $35,000 in start up capital (Business NH Magazine, March 2005).

So in New Hampshire, a fifth of the economy is based on companies with less than five people!

So here is a homework assignment. Go back to your local economic developers and elected leaders (who usually appoint the economic developers), and ask them these questions:

• How many microbusinesses do we have in our town/region?
• What percentage of jobs do these businesses account for?
• What programs are in the current economic development plan to help existing microbusinesses grow?
• What programs are in the current economic development plan to help local entrepreneurs start microbusinesses?
• What programs are in the current economic development plan to attract entrepreneurs from other areas that want to relocate and start a microbusiness?
• What amenities, services, and community attributes do relocating microbusiness entrepreneurs look for, and do we have a plan in place to get them and market them?

If you do not get satisfactory answers to these questions, your region may be ignoring the fastest growing source of jobs in the United States, with a 600% increase over the last decade in the microbusiness category.