June 16, 2004
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Economy

Micro-enterprise and the New Hampshire Economy

The mom and pop business engine

-- by Natalie Woodroofe, WREN, Bethlehem, NH

Microenterprises represent a significant slice of New Hampshire’s economic pie. A microenterprise is defined as a business with five or fewer employees and initial capital needs of $35,000 or less. In fact, New Hampshire ranks 9th in the nation in terms of percentage of overall private employment in the State.

In 2001, with a total of 110,331 of these smallest of businesses employing 145,198 people, microenterprise employment equaled 18.4% of all private employment in the state. This gave New Hampshire a ranking of 9th highest in the nation, with the national average of 16.6%. New Hampshire counties varied in their levels of microenterprises, ranging from a low of 16% in Hillsborough to 27.1% in Carroll.

This isn’t news to those of us who have been working over the last decade to support the development of microentrepreneurs and their businesses. As agriculture, manufacturing, and natural resource-based industries decline, challenged rural communities and their residents must find other economic development strategies in order to survive. With limited job opportunities, rural people are increasingly choosing entrepreneurship as a way to support their households, revive local economies, and pursue their dreams.

This strategy not only creates jobs but also leads to greater stability in local economies since local businesses tend to remain and invest in their home communities. Earnings from such businesses are much more likely to be re-circulated as business owners purchase goods and services locally, build skills in the local workforce, and revitalize lagging economies. Microenterprise development spreads ownership among a diversity of rural people, building their assets and allowing them to gain greater control over their lives.

Yet rural microentrepreneurs face distinct challenges that urban business owners typically don’t: isolation with very limited access to substantial customer markets; capital shortages; brain drain as gifted young people out migrate; and infrastructural deficits including the lack of technology access and other services.

New Hampshire based organizations such as the Women's Rural Entrepreneurial Network (WREN), MicroCredit NH, the Small Business Administration, the Women’s Business Center, and the regional Small Business Development Centers provide a range of technical assistance, access to capital, and other support services to the state’s smallest enterprises, assisting both start-up and expanding enterprises. These programs and organizations typically have one or more of the following purposes: business development/job creation, access to capital, community economic development and poverty alleviation.

For example, the Women's Rural Entrepreneurial Network (WREN), based in Bethlehem (exit 40 off I-93) began in 1994 solely as a training program to assist low income women in business ownership. Over the past decade, it has evolved significantly in responding to the needs of rural entrepreneurs, both men and women. WREN offers its 367 affiliated business members (primarily in New Hampshire and Vermont but also in 9 other states) a variety of entrepreneurial and technology classes to support their development and competitiveness, recognizing that broader services are continually needed to achieve its mission to support better lives and livelihoods.

Today, WREN's efforts include

• networking events and fostering business relationships among WREN entrepreneurs;
• identification of niche markets that encourage business owners to focus on value-added products;
• concentration on the ‘creative economy’ as a sectoral strategy; and
• the creation of new markets through the operation of its retail store, Ovation!, online store, www.theshopatwren.com, and the Gallery at WREN.

A significant example of WREN's efforts is the re-branding of our hometown of Bethlehem as ‘arts-friendly', and the revitalization of Bethlehem’s Main Street. This project demonstrates that for many rural New Hampshire towns, supporting microentrepreneurs can not only transform lives and livelihoods, but entire communities.

We all have the opportunity to support microentrepreneurs in our local communities and I would urge you to do so. By purchasing their products and services, we not only contribute to the economic well-being of that business owner and his/her employees, but also support what has been an intrinsic strand of our national psyche-- mom and pop entrepreneurism.

1/ Total employment includes proprietors and all non-farm part-time and full-time employees.

2/ Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Non-Employer Statistics, 2001.

3/ Source: 2001 County Business Patterns, U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

4/ Includes micro-business entrepreneurs (with and without employees) and estimated employment for businesses with 1-4 employees.

5/ Micro-business employment as a percent of total county employment.

6/ Source: 2001 Bureau of Economic Analysis, Full-time and Part-time County Employment Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. 7/ The number of microenterprise employees does not include individuals who are self-employed.

(source: Association for Enterprise Opportunity)

Upcoming Events

Feb 21 (8-9:30a): NH Forum on the Future, NHHTC, CR Sparks, Bedford, NH

March 1 (6:30-8:30p): Women's Business Center and MicroCredit-NH Networking Event, Bank of America, Portsmouth, NH

March 6 (10a-noon): Growth Capital Resources in New Hampshire, City of Nashua, Office of Economic Development, Daniel Webster College, Nashua, NH

March 8: (12pm -1pm) Break the Rules and Close More Sales, Amoskeag Business Incubator, Manchester, NH

March 16: Peak Pitch (pitch your plan to invstors on the chairlift), Mt. Sunapee, NH ($)

March 22: Breaking Trends in Web Develoment, UVCIA, Hanover, NH ($)

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