LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan’s Lieutenant Governor, Garlin Gilchrist III, opened a conversation during the Mackinac Policy Conference he said he hopes will pull more attention to legislation that will help new and existing small businesses. 99% of businesses started here in michigan are considered small businesses.
On Thursday, Gilchrist sat down with Victor Wong, the founder of the Right To Start Foundation. An organization that works with legislators and state officials to create policies that help small business owners, and prospective entrepreneurs.
“There are so many things that stand in the way of a person with an idea taking the next step to turn that idea into a business,” Gilchrist said “Whether you are in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or you are on the east side of Detroit, there are people who feel like they may not have access to this kind of economic mobility but I think we can speak to these in really important ways that are going to be unifying.”
Gilchrist says it’s an issue he hopes to approach from all sides; Highlighting the Michigan Economic Opportunity, and Innovative Capitol funds that have already been launched in the state. He said it’s the state’s way of saying they plan to step in and give business owners the runway to get to that next chapter where they might be able to get finance from another source.
but Wong says it takes more than just loan programs to support small business owners. So far, Right to Start has helped to advise the introduction of over 40 bills in 15 states. He said that includes policy to address healthcare and childcare accessibility, eliminating restrictive government contracting and licensing, and creating more access to information about how to turn an idea into a business, all things Gilchrest said he’s hopeful to see from Michigan legislation.
Wong says it’s a fundamental flaw in the current capital market in the U.S. that he hopes to fix so more entrepreneurs can gain economic stability through their ideas.
