Here is this week’s news round-up for home business, micro business, sole-traders, freelancers, self-employed and any one who is interested in small business news from around the world.
- Small-Business Case Study: Can Crispy Green Go National?: Crispy Green, a maker of freeze-dried fruit snacks, wants to get its snacks on the shelves of major national food chains.
- Stimulus-fueled SBA loans may run out: Say goodbye to the 90 percent guarantee and reduced fees that sparked a rebound in Small Business Administration lending.
- Orange County Small Business Techmanship Launches a Unique Community to Serve Other Local Small Businesses: Techmanship an online technology media company launches OCSMB.com a unique and very different online community complete with essential tools and business services to serve small to medium businesses in Orange County and its surrounding counties.
- Standing up for small businesses:It’s been a tough year for small businesses in California. But thanks to Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, 2010 could be a little brighter because small business owners like me are unlikely to be saddled with increased workers’ compensation insurance costs of as much as 23 percent.
- Rewriting bank regulations will hurt small businesses: In the typical fashion, Congress is now attempting to solve a “crisis” by creating a new government agency with an unlimited budget and almost unlimited regulatory powers. The proposed agency is called the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which is intended to protect consumers from making risky financial decisions.
- Private Lender:Where can entrepreneurs go when the bank says, “No”? One small business financing alternative is the private lender. This interview with one private lender tells what private lenders look for before investing and one way to find one.
- Flaherty wants code of conduct for credit, debit cards: Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is proposing a voluntary code of conduct for credit- and debit-card companies that could mean savings for consumers and small businesses.
- Women have special talents for small firms, adviser says: When it comes to starting a small business, women have special talents that can be a blessing in weathering an economic recession.
- Vancouver student tops Global Student Entrepreneur Awards: A 24-year-old Vancouver entrepreneur beat out competition from around the world to win the 2009 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards. Milun Tesovic, founder of MetroLeap Media, was Canada’s representative in the awards handed out in Kansas City Thursday night, at an event capping Global Entrepreneurship Week.
- Pay gap between women and men comes under scrutiny: ANY employer, including small businesses, would need to disclose what female staff earn relative to men to a Pay Equity Unit with a ”sticks and carrots” approach to solving the gender pay gap, a Federal Government report recommends.
- Chamber of commerce calls for inquiry into banks’ treatment of SMEs: The Australian Chamber of Commerce Industry has called for a Productivity Commission inquiry into the way banks provide finance to the SME sector, arguing small businesses are taking an “unfair…
- Small business a ‘soft target’: The cost of credit is a major obstacle to the recovery of small businesses, which have been treated as a “softer target” for banks than mortgage holders.
- Business conditions and confidence jump again: The optimism of Australian businesses finally appears to be matched by actually business conditions, according to a new survey from National Australian Bank
- 2009 funding drought rolls on: For Australian start-ups looking for venture capital, 2009 was a very bad year. 2010 may be no better.
- Access to Finance Still Critical: Access to finance remains a serious problem for British businesses, despite the Bank of England pumping 200 billion into the economy to boost money supply and stimulate lending.
- FSB Opens Emergency fund for Flooded Businesses: The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has opened its £500,000 Disaster Recovery Fund for its members in Scotland, Lancashire and Cumbria and the North East of England, which have been adversely affected by recent heavy rain and flooding.
- UK rich in budding entrepreneurs: A significant proportion of people in the UK say they want to start their own business.
- Queens Speech slammed by small biz: Small business groups were less than impressed with Gordon Brown’s fantasy list of what he would do in the unlikely event that he is re-elected as Prime Minister.…
- FPB proposes a tax environment that supports small businesses: The FPB is lobbying the Government for a series of specific tax cuts as part of proposals for ‘responsible growth’ as the economy heads out of recession.
- Exhibitions – London Business Startup Show: Business exhibitions sound neither eponymously nor inherently exciting; but don’t be naïve. It’s not all briefcases, suits and starchiness of past.
- Pursuing Your Entrepreneurial Dream: Being your own boss, being self-reliant and master of your own time – that is what many of us are dreaming about. Running a virtual assistant business from home, not having to commute to work everyday and being more around the kids when they are home, has more than mass-appeal.
- Planning and Starting Your Business The Easy Way: These days many of us are thinking about starting a business and many of us are overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of things to consider – is that how you feel?
- Sales Basics for Every Small Business Entrepreneur: In the end sales is what makes or breaks your business, it is the way your business, no – every business makes money. Even when your phone rings and visitors come to your shop or website – you have no sale until the order is signed or the money handed over.
As always this list is not exhaustive, but I hope it will give you a little overview. — ST.
