“We can’t make you successful, but we can create an environment in which people can dream big dreams and in which people are willing to risk capital.” Those are the words of President George W. Bush in a National Small Business Week speech honoring entrepreneurs.
Dreaming big dreams and risking capital is something that Americans value. Ours is a culture that strongly supports small business and entrepreneurial activity. Across this great nation there are about 25 million small businesses operating in every imaginable industry, creating wealth for future generations of business owners and jobs for about half of the U.S. private work force.
The public’s faith in small business, and its appreciation of the behaviors and conditions associated with small and entrepreneurial ventures, provide an atmosphere that influences small-business success.
A study by the NFIB Research Foundation examining public perceptions of small business found that 90 percent of those surveyed would approve if a son or daughter went into business for himself or herself. Half of those would strongly approve. What’s more, the study found that women and minorities were the most likely groups to be favorably disposed to having a child launch a business.
Similarly, 91 percent of those who responded to the study said they thought small-business owners work harder than people like themselves and eight of 10 believe that local business owners contribute more to the betterment of the community than they themselves do.
But the hard reality of starting from scratch was top-of-mind for those surveyed. Typically Americans believe that it is difficult to start a successful small business, let alone start one and grow it into a large firm.
Starting a small business is no cakewalk. The fact that millions of Americans have done it successfully is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit and determination that is interwoven in the fabric of our society.
One group, the NFIB Young Entrepreneur Foundation, believes that it can help smooth the path for tomorrow’s small-business owners by encouraging them to learn more about the inner workings of the free enterprise system before taking the plunge. That’s why the foundation recently laid more than $400,000 on the line for 382 Free Enterprise Scholars Awards those students can use to attend the college, vocational or technical school of their choice to study business. Major funding support is provided by VISA USA.
Students from 46 states received awards, the largest of which, $10,000, was won by a future entrepreneur from Wisconsin. $5,000 awards went to students in Missouri, Massachusetts, North Carolina and California.
The program received 2,100 applications for scholarships this year, more than double the number for 2004 and a clear indication that some of tomorrow’s small-business owners are already savvy enough to recognize a competitive advantage when they see one. For these future entrepreneurs, seeing is knowing. That’s just what the Young Entrepreneur
Foundation is hoping for.
As President Bush noted in his speech, “Men and women who run small businesses have a vision to see beyond what is, and the courage to pursue what might be.”
–Jack Faris is the president of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
