Fleming: Honoring small businesses building stronger economy

National Small Business Week, April 28 through May 4, is a time to celebrate the entrepreneurs, small businesses and innovative startups that define our communities. For more than 60 years, this week has served as America’s annual tribute to our small businesses and innovative startups — tireless engines of our economy and the backbones of our communities.

America’s entrepreneurs have thrived post-pandemic, giving our nation its first, second and third strongest years of business growth in history, plus creating two-thirds of net new jobs and 40% of our nation’s economic output. People from all walks of life are turning their ideas into prosperous small businesses — and the face of entrepreneurship is more diverse than ever, as women and people of color start businesses at record rates.

Fueled by the Biden-Harris administration’s “Investing in America” agenda and set during an unprecedented small-business boom of 17 million new business applications since 2021 (160,515 of them right here in Delaware), this National Small Business Week holds special significance, as we honor local entrepreneurs who are part of this historic wave, creating good local jobs, strengthening neighborhoods and powering America’s competitiveness.

The administration’s Investing in America laws have funded $478.4 billion in public infrastructure investments, meaning contracts and revenue growth for our nation’s small businesses. This includes more than 51,000 infrastructure projects, $1.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations, expanded affordable high-speed internet access for 16 million households and much more, while also attracting more than $688 billion in total private-sector manufacturing investment and sparking the creation of more than 800,000 new manufacturing jobs.

Under administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman’s leadership, the Small Business Administration is working to make sure more of our local small businesses have the resources, tools and know-how to capitalize on vast new federal investments that are happening now or are on their way —and to bring those dollars home to Delaware. You can learn more about how Investing in America is strengthening your community at sba.gov/sba-learning-platform/investing-america.

As we recognize America’s small-business owners and celebrate the Biden-Harris administration’s small-business boom this week, let us honor all of America’s 33.5 million small businesses for their many valuable contributions to our communities, our economy and our democracy.

John Fleming is the mid-Atlantic regional administrator for the Small Business Administration.