At the Small Business Summit that COSE organized last February, a lot of participants told us that they enjoyed the experience and they hoped we wouldn’t just let the recommendations and ideas fade away without action. I appreciate that because I have had the misfortune to be involved with a number of similar sessions that are high on enthusiasm but short on follow-up.

We told you at the summit that we would get a summary of the proceedings out within a month or so and we did that in April. In that report, found here, we also told you that we wanted to organize and support a next step. We had targeted mid-summer to kick off that effort. And, I’d like to provide a quick overview of the next steps we are suggesting.

Maybe it’s the change of season, but I still sense some excitement from the Summit.  I’ve heard from attendees about how invigorated they felt after that day.  You already know that there’s a sense of pride that resonates with being a small business owner.  But it seems like the small business owners that I have run into over the last month have a renewed sparkle in their eyes. 

I had the opportunity to spend some time with a group of Argentine small business owners to talk about the issues they face in growing and expanding their businesses in Argentina.   Like many of you indicated in our Small Business Summit, they told me their biggest issue was government and its lack of understanding about the key issues that small businesses face in their country.  In exploring that conversation with them, I learned a few things that were worth juxtaposing to what we are experiencing here in Ohio and even more broadly in the U.S.