Michigan Promotes FastTrac NewVenture Program for Small Business

Yesterday, Governor Granholm announced a number of new initiatives within Michigan to support the growth and liquidity within local small businesses.  Granholm highlighted new funding and support for the FastTrac NewVenture program, a service providing advice and 10-week courses on launching and developing new businesses.  In addition, the state government has entered agreements with the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Centers (MI-SBTDC) and Michigan Credit Union League (MCUL) to expand credit availability to small business owners.

Never too Young to be a Social Entrepreneur

A recent article in Business Week by Nick Leiber raised concern that an entire generation of 20-somethings to early 30′s has been lost in terms of entrepreneurial innovation.  Leiber notes that many of the exciting and successful startups in recent years have been spearheaded by those over 35 and laments what this might mean in terms of an upcoming generation of businesspeople who have not taken part in the initiation of a new company.

Of course, while Leiber does not specifically call out the younger generation as having a failure of ambition or imagination, the article is drawing a bit of fire.  Including a healthy discussion on the article itself, Kristin Ivie has responded with her own take on Social Citizens.  Ivie notes that many of the new entrepreneurs of the ‘lost generation’ are out there, and may be found in upstart non-profits and budding social enterprises, innovators that are “less interested in making as much money as possible and more interested in starting organizations that are mission-focused”.

With all of the depressing economic news floating around these days, its refreshing to hear a voice reminding us that one is never too young to be an entrepreneur.

Obama’s State of the Union Encouraging to Some States in the Union

Obama’s State of the Union address (transcript) last night was largely a call to action across many sectors of the nation.  Although a message of change is hardly new coming from the Administration, some specific plans laid out in Obama’s speech are encouraging to small businesses and budding entrepreneurs.  In particular, Obama proposed using ~30B of the returned bank bailout money to establish a fund designed for loans to small businesses in order to increase liquidity in a sector that currently faces trouble obtaining credit from larger banking institutions.  Obama also proposed tax credits for small businesses that hire new employees, or raise the wages for existing employees during 2010.

While these plans must first traverse Congress in order to become a reality, some states are cautiously optimistic that these programs could help them recover their economies, particularly in the area of job creation.  Indeed, in Michigan, the proposed business incentives, along with Obama’s continued focus on green energy, have given some hope that 2010 may help the state combat it’s unprecedented unemployment rate (currently at ~15% in some estimates).