The Future Belongs to Small Business By GEORGE H. RYAN, Lieutenant Governor Chairman, Governor's Small Business Advisory Council

As the new decade gets underway — with a new century in the not-too-distant offing — it's an especially fitting time to consider the goals and direction of Illinois with respect to its economy.

And indeed, through the program areas that I oversee through my office, it's clear that the future course that's mapped out for economic development must continue to bring a special focus to a special sector of our economy: small business.

Why is this critical? Because small businesses are the backbone of the state's economy. About 90 percent of all businesses in our Prairie State have fewer than 500 employees. These more modest-sized firms employ approximately two-thirds of Illinois' work force. And they're no lightweights when it comes to job creation, either: small businesses account for about 75 percent of all new jobs that are created in the state every year. So our future economic course in Illinois must heavily factor in small business needs and concerns.

As chairman of the Governor's Small Business Advisory Council (SBAC), I'm especially interested in "hands-on" input from this sector — after all, if there's anyone well suited to determining where small business sliould go from here, it's the small business people themselves. That's one of the reasons that's prompted our Small Business Roundtables.

These open-forum meetings are an avenue to learn about the issues as small businesses see them. In November, we held a roundtable in Urbana, aimed at drawing participation from businesses in Champaign, Ford, Piatt, and Douglas Counties. This was the seventh session that we've held. In the past, we've also convened meetings in Decatur, Quincy, Olney, Collinsville, Hoopeston, and Grayslake.

Through them, we on the SBAC have come to more fully see the very broad range of concerns that small businesses wrestle with: sales tax, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, the closing of plants, and employee right-to-know-laws, to cite just a few.

Such information-gathering efforts — coupled with other outreach undertakings — have in the past better enabled us to formulate policies that forge a stronger future for small businesses. For example, over the years we've put into place a Small Business Assistance Bureau in the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs; implemented a Procurement Assistance Program; and enacted an equal access to credit law for women and minority business owners. There are several other instances, as well, of efforts made to help our small businesses be their best.

So as we launch into 1990, with an eye ever toward a more vibrant state economy, I look forward to continued work with the state's small business. Whether through our SBAC Roundtables, meetings with Chambers of Commerce, or other avenues of communication, it's critical to strengthen the partnership between small business and government. Only then can we look with confidence to having our economy be its robust best. •

February 1990 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 13