Tagged: small business

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan lawmakers are renewing a push to require more businesses selling items over the Internet to collect the state's 6 percent sales tax.

Legislation dealing with the issue was detailed Tuesday at the state Capitol.

The Michigan Retailers Association says some out-of-state, online-only retailers use legal loopholes that allow them to avoid collecting state sales tax at the point of sale. The retailers association says that gives the online retailers an unfair price advantage and hurts Michigan businesses that have storefronts and collect the sales tax.

Bills to be introduced by Republican Rep. Eileen Kowall of Oakland County's White Lake Township and Democratic Rep. Jim Ananich of Flint would move online-only retailers under the same sales tax collection laws under which brick-and-mortar businesses operate.

The number of women running farms in Michigan is growing, according to a report in today's Lansing State Journal:

The number of Michigan farm acres managed by female principal operators has more than doubled in 30 years, from 252,980 acres in 1978 to 552,075 acres in 2007, the most recent date available from the United States Department of Agriculture's Michigan Field Office.

As the election season begins, it almost seems politicians are obligated to tout small business as one way to stave off further economic collapse and bring back the American Dream for all of those whom it has left behind.

Small business overall does have a tremendous economic footprint in this country, employing half of all private sector employees, by government estimates. But small business is also a really big umbrella. The United States Small Business Association includes any firm with less than 500 employees a small business. It’s easy to see how a business with 500 employees could be critical to a town.

Then there are people like Laura Cowan. She hopes to be a small business owner, but she’s not there yet. Cowan runs a green, affordable parenting blog out of her home, and patches together paying work while she balances full-time care of her young daughter. She is what has been called a “micro-preneur.” These are people who run very small businesses, typically with only one, or at most a handful, of employees.

In developing countries, micro-enterprise has received great attention for helping move some people, especially women, out of abject poverty. In this country, that strategy has been tried, but has worked less well. One reason is because starting a small business is very high risk, and pretty low-reward. There are people who begin these types of businesses because they have no other way to support themselves, but there are also a lot of people looking to make a change in their lives and thinking starting a business might be a good idea.

It is less certain what the effects of micro-enterprises are on the economy in this country. They haven’t been studied anywhere near as much as small businesses. It’s not clear how often micro-enterprises turn into flourishing small businesses, how often they stay small, and how often they fail.

Here are portraits of three different Micro-entrepreneurs in Michigan:

UPDATE 4:30 p.m.

One hundred thirty million will be available to Michigan businesses as part of a new grant program. The money is the first of the Small Business Association’s Impact Investment Initiative. The goal is to help grow and create jobs through public-private partnerships. The InvestMichigan! fund is a partnership between the SBA, Dow Chemical Company and state funds.

Karen Mills is with the SBA. She says Michigan was the perfect place to start the program.

“Michigan has great assets. It has one of the highest engineers per capita for any state. It has a well-trained workforce, it has great universities and it has extraordinary entrepreneurs,” Mills said.

The program will distribute 1-point-5-billion-dollars to businesses nationwide throughout the next five years.

- Amelia Carpenter - Michigan Radio Newsroom

ORIGINAL POST: 12:21 p.m.

Details on a public-private grant program aimed at helping small to medium sized businesses in Michigan will be announced during a press call at 1 p.m. today.

Governor Snyder will discuss the new program along with Karen Mills of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Andrew Liveris, Chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Company, State Treasurer Andy Dillon, and Kelly Williams of Credit Suisse's Customized Fund Investment Group.

Andrew Dodson of Booth Mid-Michigan reports that Dow Chemical's investment in the program is expected to facilitate investment from the federal and state government:

According to a source close to the information, the program's impact will be "quite substantial." Dow Chemical is expected to provide funds and help facilitate bringing federal and state funds to bear upon local markets."It's meant for businesses who need financing, but can't get loans or financing right now," the source said.InvestMichigan! is a group with a series of funds focused on growing the next generation of Michigan companies, according to its website, and is one of the partners involved in today's announcement. It's federal counterpart, ImpactAmerica, is also involved.

Amelia Carpenter in the Michigan Radio Newsroom will be on the call and will have more for us later.

State and federal officials are expected to announce that Michigan will be the first place eligible for loans to small businesses investing in clean energy or located in economically distressed areas.

U.S. Small Business Administration head Karen Mills, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Dow Chemical Co. chief Andrew Liveris and others are scheduled to announce the impact investment program in a Tuesday afternoon conference call.

The initiative will work with private institutional investors to help identify and provide money to private equity fund managers who invest in targeted companies. Federal funds also will be offered to small businesses that get a share of the private investments.

The program is part of President Barack Obama's Start-Up American initiative aimed at spurring high-growth entrepreneurship and the creation of more jobs.

Family bonding can be a reward for working in a family business. But there is also plenty Amber Turner worries about.

The restaurant industry took a beating in the economic downturn. Although some Wall Street analysts expect restaurants to pick up soon, a lagging restaurant industry makes Turner more than a little nervous. In her family, any trouble is multiplied.

A unique business accelerator opens today in Detroit. 

A lot of business accelerators, generally speaking, focus on internet startups and biotech companies. But with the new Creative Ventures Acceleration Program in Detroit, the spotlight is on creative industries:

"The industrial design world, the interior design world, fashion design, music production, video production and architecture."