BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – More than 2,500 small business owners, including several from Louisiana, gathered in Washington, D.C. for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Summit.
Leaders say this was the largest gathering of small business owners in US history. The aim was to give people the opportunity to learn, grow and be committed to their needs.
“It was really an opportunity to educate yourself, really learn from others who have grown and scaled their businesses, hear some of the challenges and solutions they’ve had, and also advocate for small businesses,” said Lakeisha Robichaux.
Robichaux is the founder and CEO of Chief of Minds in Baton Rouge. She says she’s had the opportunity to sit down with lawmakers to talk about the challenges they face and the solutions they’d like to see.
“One of the things was capital. As small business owners, we have to compete with the larger corporations. So having access to capital to pay the higher competitive wages, to be able to offer benefits for small businesses to compete with,” Robichaux said.
This is the number one fear facing small businesses across the country, according to Goldman Sachs vice president Amy Betzen.
“It’s just their ability to attract and retain in this tight job market and their ability to offer competitive benefits and to be able to compete with the Amazons of the world and really provide their employees with the benefits that they desire ‘ betzen said.
Robichaux says she wants lawmakers to create a program that can help small businesses retain employees and offer competitive wages.
“A type of benefits program that helps small businesses win and negotiate a nice benefits package so that a commitment can happen,” Robichaux said.
Despite the challenges, Robichaux says there is plenty of optimism for the future.
“We will need solutions and we will need support. That’s why we must remain committed to ensuring small businesses get the funding we need and the support we need. As long as we have that, I see the future looking positive, but some changes and good partnerships will help,” said Robichaux.
Some of the others in attendance include President George W. Bush, Warren Buffet and NBA star Chris Paul.
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