Small Business Survival: Government Gridlock Stymies Solutions

During the COVID-19 pandemic, owners of the French bistro Bell's took a financial risk and began investing more money in their employees to incentivize working, increase employee satisfaction and retention and overall drive more profits. The decision has since paid off and is reimagining the traditional restaurant structure.

As gentrification has flourished and Baby Boomers age out of the workforce, “legacy businesses” struggle to find a way to maintain a presence in communities of color. In response, a multi-city fellowship called Shared Equity in Economic Development (SEED) was developed to educate business owners on transferring ownership to the employees to ensure its future. Four cities—Philadelphia, Atlanta, Durham, and Miami— paired three city employees with one community member to work together over a two year period to leave the city with “clear plans, clear roles and good foundations for future business conversions."

The "Next" Project in Greenville, South Carolina brings local government and companies together to create a business incubator to encourage new startups to launch -- and stay -- in the area. One such business, called the Iron Yard, acts as a sort of code academy, offering a 3-month bootcamp and guaranteeing that graduates of their program will find a job in the industry. So far, they've followed through on that guarantee.

Aarong, a fashion and lifestyle brand, launched a "Bring Your Own Bag" campaign that charges customers Tk15 for paper bags (or offers Tk15 cashback for bringing reusable ones). Within a year, nearly 5 million fewer paper bags had been used, and over $236,000 USD was raised by the campaign for environmental initiatives.

Skagway Brewing Company built an aeroponic farm inside their brewpub to grow fresh lettuce year-round, successfully meeting the restaurant's full weekly demand and capturing brewing CO2 to boost yields.

Sack farming—growing crops in soil-filled recycled bags within household compounds—has enabled farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria, to overcome climate challenges by producing vegetables and tubers that significantly reduce household food expenses, generate supplementary income from excess harvests, and provide up to 80% crop success rates.

Since it began operating in 2018, the Pulse has become one of the most successful bus rapid transit services in the country, leading to other states adopting similar systems. The Pulse is a cost-effective public transit mode that has dramatically increased ridership despite a national trending decline. In June 2021, the Pulse had carried almost five million passengers and counting.

Programs like Motor City Match and Grown in Detroit help entrepreneurs launch Black-owned food businesses in Detroit. The businesses sell healthy foods in neighborhoods often lacking in nutritious options or in the infrastructure needed to support startup businesses. The supportive programs offer grants and training that have nurtured dozens of new businesses, which themselves have formed a supportive network among their peers.

Firebrand Artisan Breads hires people with high barriers to employment, such as people experiencing homelessness or who were formerly incarcerated. The higher-than-minimum-wage starting salary, paid time off, and insurance benefits provide sustainable and secure employment to people whose life circumstances make it harder to get a job. In order to raise capital while maintaining their employment model, the owner worked with lawyers to become a perpetual purpose trust, an alternative ownership model that allows the company to sell shares to private investors while ensuring their principles remain in place.

Prime Coalition is financing clean tech startups and climate-focused technologies that often don’t get a lot of funding. These technologies can be expensive to build and don’t generate profits immediately. So far, the public charity has secured $89 million that it has given into 18 energy ventures. “What’s important here is that the climate crisis is such a large-scale problem that we need lots of different types of solutions,” says Sarah Kearney, founder of Prime Coalition, “and so we need to match up right-fit capital to each kind of solution.”