Roundtable is part of a nationwide Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices
“Road to Recovery” Tour
– On Tuesday, November 30th at 12:00pm, Representative Kweisi Mfume will visit East Baltimore Historical Library for a roundtable discussion with Baltimore small business owners about the challenges they are facing on the road to recovery. Representative Mfume will be hosted by Brendan McCluskey of Trident Builders and Barnett Carroll of Aegis Mechanical Corporation. He will also meet with Cain Contracting founder Andra Cain, Cheo Hurley of THG Companies LLC, Jeff Hargrave of Mahogany Inc., and Beverly Williams of Sue-Anns Office Supply, who are all members of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices community.
Many of the small businesses in attendance have participated in the government procurement process, by which the US Federal Government and Maryland State Government purchase goods and services. The visit comes as the number of small businesses providing products and services to the federal government has fallen 38% from 2010 to 2019. Even more dramatically, the number of new small business entrants into the procurement marketplace declined by 79% from 2005 to 2019.
The roundtable comes as Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices released new survey data showing that small businesses are still struggling and revealed that 92% of respondents believe it is important for the Biden Administration to prioritize policies that level the playing field for small businesses. 82% support President Biden’s July 9th executive order that directs federal agencies to promote greater competition through their procurement and spending decisions to increase opportunities for small businesses. Additionally, only 31% of small businesses are confident they could access capital if they needed it. Nearly 85% of small businesses have seen an increase in operating costs, and 80% of small businesses say that workforce challenges are hurting their bottom line.
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices “Road to Recovery” is a cross-country series of bipartisan events connecting elected officials with small business owners. Participating elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels can listen and learn from small business owners directly about the daily challenges they are facing.
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
| 12:00 PM | Representative Kweisi Mfume participates in small business roundtable at East Baltimore Historical Library
East Baltimore Historical Library 2100 Ashland Ave Baltimore, MD 21205 |
| 1:00 PM | Media Avail with Representative Mfume, Brendan McCluskey of Trident Builders, and Barnett Carroll of Aegis Mechanical Corporation
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