New Cox Business Comeback Survey paints a resilient and hopeful picture

According to the Arizona Hispanic Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce, minority-owned businesses are unique in that 56 percent are family-owned seeing an average revenue of $110,000 compared to non-minority-owned businesses that generate $500,000 on average per year.  The stakes are higher for minority-owned businesses in Arizona because the success of the family is directly tied to the success of the business and there are fewer cash reserves to cushion economic downturns, much less the ongoing impact of a global pandemic.

In recognition of Small Business Week, Cox Business has studied the challenges of minority-owned businesses aiming to catch a glimpse of the issues they face, and more importantly, how they rise above.  The results of the 2021 Cox Business Comeback Survey paint a resilient and hopeful picture, particularly for minority business owners under the age of 45. 

Less than half of businesses with owners 45 years and older have returned to pre-pandemic financial levels while more than half of businesses owned by someone younger than 45 have reached or exceeded their pre-pandemic levels.  Regardless, nearly 90 percent of surveyed minority business owners are hopeful about growth in the next year and the future of their businesses.

Minority-owned businesses are investing in their future with 83 percent having received funding from the Payroll Protection Program and nearly 75 percent received personal stimulus funding.  Of those that received funds, 81 percent put their stimulus money back into their business.

Most minority business owners 18 to 44-years-old are keen on implementing new products and services like eCommerce this year, as well as new technologies into their business processes.  Yet, of those owners 45 years and older, less than half are saying yes to new technology.

Nearly half of the respondents promote their businesses as minority-owned and 43 percent believe that being minority-owned has generated more sales in the last year.  Fifty-five percent of those under 45 have posted or commented in response to the current social justice movement with 20 percent claiming to be very vocal and 41 percent claiming to post or comment very sparingly.  For the most part, those 45 and older were not vocal at all.  Resoundingly, 85 percent of those who have posted on the subject have seen a positive response to their business’s voice in the movement.

Minority-owned businesses are looking for support from large enterprises with 55 percent of those surveyed indicating they want improved supplier diversity; 54% would like increased minority-specific grants and 45 percent are looking for more mentorship or advisory programs with business executives.

During Small Business Week, and throughout the year, Cox Business supports small businesses throughout the state by providing them vital telecommunications services while also purchasing their services and supplies to keep our business humming. 

Ed Aaronson is Vice President for Cox Business, Arizona. Cox Business provides voice, data, internet and managed cloud services for small and regional businesses nationwide, including health care providers; K−12 and higher education; financial institutions; and federal, state and local government organizations. Cox is committed to creating meaningful moments of human connection through broadband applications and services. The largest private telecom company in America, we proudly serve six million homes and businesses across 18 states.

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A new women’s business center in Phoenix is offering a range of services to help entrepreneurs grow and expand during the pandemic. 

The new in Phoenix offers services to anyone who wants to start or grow a business, even those who are just thinking about it. They offer a variety of services including training, technical assistance and access to low interest loans. 

It is one of 20 new women’s centers across the U.S just launched by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). In addition, the SBA  launched a new free e-learning platform, , for anyone to use to help advance their company’s profitability. 

Most are located in underserved and rural neighborhoods, and they have resources to assist business owners to remain resilient during the pandemic, including Latina and Black business owners who have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19 shutdowns and disruptions.  

New Women’s Business Center hosted by Prestamos 

The new Phoenix WBC in Phoenix is being hosted by Prestamos, a division of the nonprofit CPLC. Prestamos provides a variety of lending programs to help grow small businesses and “impactfulâ€� economic development projects. 

“This pandemic has disproportionately impacted women through workforce reductions and caregiving responsibilities, and I am thrilled to partner with the SBA to support and empower those women looking for a new path through entrepreneurship,� said Amber Cordoba, director of Business Education and Consulting Services for Prestamos.

Mentoring, training, low interest loans, and much more 

Arizona now has two WBCs including the in Tucson. The two Arizona centers are part of a national network of 136 WBCs that offer:

• Individualized coaching
• Workshops
• Microlending
• Networking
• Technical assistance
• Resources

Entrepreneurs who work with coaches can receive help with:

• Financial management
• Operations
• Accounting
• Marketing
• Human resources
• Website and digital strategies

Free e-learning platform for women entrepreneurs

The SBA also launched , a first-of-its-kind free digital platform geared to help women entrepreneurs grow and expand. Ascent has content such as tips on preparing and recovering from disasters, strategic marketing and business financial strategy development. 

The online platform is a joint initiative between the White House, the SBA, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Designed to support women entrepreneurs looking to remain resilient in their operations, Ascent is packed with content and resources from each agency and backed by academic research. 

Largest expansion of women’s services in 30 years

The launch of Ascent and the opening of 20 new business centers this year is the SBA’s of resources specifically tailored for women in more than 30 years.

Women business owners represent an important sector in the nation’s economic framework, according to the SBA. Today, women entrepreneurs own or co-own nearly 13 million businesses, close to half of all companies in the nation. They employ 9.4 million workers, generate $1.9 trillion in revenue and represent all industries. 

For more information about the Phoenix center, go to:

For more information about the Tucson center, go to:

To learn more about SBA’s programs and services for women entrepreneurs, visit online at , and to find other WBC locations and SBA resources, visit . 

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Mitigating the impact of Proposition 208 on small businesses and restoring public confidence in elections will be among the top goals for the state Legislature this year, said the new chair of the Arizona Senate Commerce Committee.

At the top of the list will be finding ways to help businesses and individuals still struggling from disruptions during the pandemic, said the new Commerce chair, Senator J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler).

“There will be certain priorities that will be everybody’s priorities like responding to Covid, and one major aspect of that will be how it has impacted our businesses,â€� said Mesnard, who spoke to Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ about what he foresees as priorities in 2021.  

With Covid-19 shutting down much of last year’s session, lawmakers must scramble to address these and other pressing concerns, he said.  

“Because we pretty much hit the road last March when Covid arrived, we really haven’t done much, so there will be a lot of interest about what we can do to help individuals and businesses,â€� Mesnard said. “There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine,  but it still will take months.â€� 

Mesnard, a small business owner, investor and consultant, was named the new chair of the  Commerce Committee that oversees regulation and policy important to business and industry.  

Topping the list of goals this session will be finding ways to help small businesses, organizations and citizens still struggling to get through the final throes of the pandemic, he said. Expect to see some form of legislation to shield businesses from frivolous Covid-19 lawsuits. 

Mitigate damage from Prop. 208

Another most pressing issue this session will be how to offset harm to small businesses and the state from Proposition 208, Mesnard said. 

The proposition created a new tax for top earning individuals and couples, but also is expected to affect tens of thousands of small businesses. These are “pass throughâ€� entities, meaning they do not file their income taxes as corporations. Instead, they file under the individual tax code. 

Under the new law, Arizona’s top income tax rate has jumped from thirteenth lowest in the nation to the ninth highest. The rate jumped from 4.5 to 8 percent, a 78 percent increase, affecting individuals who earn $250,000 and joint filers who earn $500,000. Small business owners who file under the individual tax code are subject to the tax as well. 

The new tax rate could have dire consequences for Arizona’s economic health, said Mesnard, who is working with fellow lawmakers, business advocacy and trade groups, and legislative budget staff to find ways to lessen the impact and protect the state’s ability to attract new investment.

“You can’t have the 9th highest income tax rate in the country and the 11th highest combined average sales tax rate and I don’t know what the commercial property tax rate is but it’s got to be certainly in the top half of the country. You can’t have all those things and expect Arizona to be a place attractive to move to,� he said. “So we need to figure a pathway forward.�

Committee members already are starting to look at possible changes in tax policy to “rescue ourselves from the predicament,â€� Mesnard said. “We don’t want to become a flyover state.â€� 

“We’ll be looking at our whole tax code to look at what would be good tax policy and how we’ll respond to this. Right now we’re in bransoriming mode. There’s no immediate solution. I think it’s a big challenge, frankly.â€� 

Public confidence in county and state elections

With a lot of interest over election integrity, another top objective is to reinstill public confidence in the election system, Mesnard said. 

“There’s a lot of people that think the election was rigged or wrought with fraud or irregularities. Others dismiss that entirely,â€� Mesnard said. “Whether right or wrong, there are lots of doubts and we need to make sure we do everything we can to restore people’s trust and confidence in the election system.â€�

Mesnard said he would like to see every step of the process analyzed to determine if any changes need to be made to ensure election integrity. 

He also introduced a bill that would allow a recount of an election to anyone willing to pay for it. 

The bill, , states that the person requesting a recount would have to file a bond with the Superior Court and pay an amount determined by the court to be sufficient “to provide for full reimbursement of the costs of conducting the recount.â€� 

“This should not be a Republican or Democrat thing. Because if people don’t have confidence in the system, I don’t know a greater existential threat to the democratic electoral process than people who don’t show up to vote, who don’t think it’s real,â€� he said. “I mean, that’s what you see in other parts of the world. God forbid that type of thing happens here.â€�

Mesnard home grown 

Before being elected to the Arizona Senate in 2018, Mesnard served eight years in the House of Representatives. He was speaker of the House for the 2017–2018 term. Prior to running for office, he spent eight years working at the Arizona Senate where he served as a policy adviser on issues ranging from education, transportation and retirement, to family services and government administration. 

Mesnard attended Arizona State University where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in music composition and Master’s degrees in business and public administration. 

He helped establish Voices of the World, a non-profit Christian charity that provides humanitarian aid to the poor and destitute of the world. A husband and new father, he lives in Chandler.

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To check the pulse of entrepreneurs across the nation during COVID-19, Arizona U.S. Representative David Schweikert and other members of Congress met with business owners from across the nation during a virtual roundtable last week.

The lawmakers said they wanted to hear directly from business owners so they can better craft effective legislation going forward and find gaps where small businesses are falling through the cracks. 

Schweikert said small retailers and restaurants are showing some of the highest displacement numbers, and an “unusually highâ€� number of new business filings indicates they are starting new businesses. 

Congress needs to find a way to help them succeed, he said.

“This may be really important for the country’s economic recovery and those in the policymaking world are going to have to think about everything from access to capital, to the regulatory state, and how do we help microbusinesses that are going to be run from home for awhile,� Schweikert said. “How do you help them hit the launchpad and take off? That needs to be part of the economic recovery plan as we work through this.�

Schweikert co-hosted the event with Rep. Bill Foster (IL) and Rep. French Hill (AR) who spoke of legislation to help, including possibly extending the federal Paycheck Protection Program that helped millions of small businesses keep their employees on the payroll, their lights on and rent paid for months during COVID-19 shutdowns. 

All three, once young entrepreneurs themselves, are co-chairs of the bipartisan House Entrepreneurship , which serves as a forum for lawmakers to stay abreast of the most pressing issues facing businesses.  
The event, the Entrepreneurship Roundtable, was hosted with the . The center is a nonpartisan research, policy, and advocacy organization that works with policymakers in Washington and across the country to achieve a policy environment that promotes new business formation, survival, and growth.

Bumpy ride for all 

At the roundtable event, entrepreneurs from a range of industries including technology, real estate, digital food service, engineering, and marketing detailed the damage all experienced and what they need moving forward. 

All reported deep dives in revenues from the disruptions. All have also managed to keep their companies open. 

Federal stimulus programs helped, they said. 

“We might have survived without federal assistance, but it would have meant significant layoffs and downsizing. We did not lay off one person,� said Jimi Allen, CEO and founder of , a marketing and visual services company in Aurora, Colorado.

Almost all of the executives said they benefited from two federal stimulus loan programs created earlier this year to help businesses with 500 or fewer employees: the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, they said.  

Remote workers here to stay?

All of the companies said they have had to go to completely or partially remote operations.  

Lori Anna Harrison of Scottsdale real estate marketing firm , said working remotely has been so successful for her company, they have no intention of switching back. 

“We will never go back to brick and mortar,� said Harrison. “It hasn’t impacted clients at all. We are able to give the same level of service.�

Businesses owned by people of color being left behind 

Sky Kelley, the Black owner of Avisare, a Los Angeles company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help government agencies and small businesses procure contracts, said COVID-19 almost devastated her business. 

When the pandemic hit, Avisare was in the late stages of negotiating a major contract with their first private client. That deal instantly went away, she said. Other deals also fell through with government agencies that suddenly were financially strapped as well. 

Meanwhile, all of her highly skilled engineer employees, who were earning six figure incomes, had to move to independent contractor status.

When Kelley applied for a PPP loan, she was turned down. After repeated phone calls and reapplying for an EIDL loan she finally received $68,000. 

Nevertheless, Avisare has survived by scrambling to find new business, she said.

“We were able to ride through it, but we had to get really creative and do double duty while also managing kids and home and childcare.� 

Kelley also expressed concerns that businesses owned by people of color are falling by the wayside during the pandemic, especially companies owned by African Americans.

Legislation to support entrepreneurship 

After hearing from the company heads, Schweikert and the other congressional members spoke of measures they and others are making to help spur innovation and prevent entrepreneurs from falling through the cracks. 

The New Business Preservation Act, for example, would provide funding for innovation and startups. The bill also has provisions to protect women and people of color. 

Schweikert said Congress is continuing to work to come to agreement on a stimulus package for small businesses. 

America’s edge relies on entrepreneurship, he said. 

“Small businesses have always been, and will continue to be, an integral part of our communities,â€� Schweikert said.

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Thanks to a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week, Arizona’s smallest companies that receive loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) could see paperwork requirements simplified to make it easier to access funds needed to keep their businesses operational. 

Arizona U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, and North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican, introduced the bill in the Senate Banking Committee.

Called the Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act, it would make loans that are no greater than $150,000 fully forgivable by filling out a one-page form. 

“Fully forgiving Arizona small businesses’ PPP loans provides needed economic certainty to local employers, which have suffered losses through no fault of their own, while protecting Arizonans’ jobs and paychecks,â€� Sinema said in introducing the legislation. 

The loans would be forgiven in full as long as the borrower submits a one-page form that attests that the recipient complied with the requirements of the PPP program as described in the economic stimulus legislation passed earlier this year, known as the CARES Act.

Bill would relieve paperwork burden for 85 percent of loans

The co-sponsors of the bill including Bob Menendez, D-NJ, and Thom Tillis, R-NC, said the legislation would save small companies thousands of dollars and relieve their paperwork burdens. 

It also would provide avenues for enforcement action against those engaged in fraud, and allow the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to focus its compliance resources on higher value loans.

The approximately 3.7 million PPP loans of $150,000 or less account for 85 percent of all PPP approved loans but only 26 percent of the funds delivered, the co-sponsors said.

The cost of applying for forgiveness for a PPP loan of this size is $2,000 for the small business and $500 for the lender. The bipartisan legislation could save small businesses $7.4 billion and banks nearly $2 billion, they said.

National banking groups support the bill 

The legislation is supported by state and national banking and agricultural groups including the Independent Community Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association and Farm Credit Council. 

“The current forgiveness application is unnecessarily burdensome for many businesses, particularly the smallest of small businesses without the administrative support needed to complete the form. Small businesses and their employees are the backbone of our nation’s economy and communities,� said Consumer Bankers Association President and CEO Richard Hunt in a statement last week. “This bipartisan automatic forgiveness process will allow businesses to focus their time and resources on seeing customers and hiring employees instead of hiring consultants to fill out paperwork.�

Measures included in the Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act:

-Provides forgiveness for PPP loans of $150,000 or less if the borrower submits a simple, one-page attestation form to the lender 

-Ensures the lender will be held harmless from any enforcement action if the borrower’s attestation contained falsehoods

-Eligible recipients of the loans may only be subject to an enforcement action or penalty  they commit fraud or expend loan proceeds on expenses that are not allowable the actTo read the fill text of the bill, go to: .

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Today marks the fifth annual Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, as a global celebration of female business owners.

Women entrepreneurs are making great strides and leaving their mark in business communities across the United States.

Last year alone, there were an estimated 12.3 million woman-owned businesses in the U.S., accounting for 40 percent of all businesses and generating $1.8 trillion in revenue, according to the .

According to the most recent Census data, Arizona saw a 53.6 percent increase in woman-owned businesses, jumping from 138,080 in 2007 to 212,100 in 2018. Indeed, female entrepreneurs have truly become a driving force in the nation’s economy, starting new businesses at a higher rate than ever.

As a matter of fact, women who own small businesses are poised to end 2019 on a high note, with 84 percent anticipating year-over-year revenue growth, according to Bank of America’s .

To better understand this thriving community of business owners, Bank of America surveys women business owners across the country each year to gain insights into their goals, aspirations and concerns.

Notably, this year’s survey found that women entrepreneurs are more confident in their revenue, hiring and expansion plans compared to their male counterparts.

For example:

• 73 percent plan to expand their business over the next 12 months (vs. 66 percent of male business owners, and up from 67 percent in 2018)
• 62 percent expect their revenue to increase in the year ahead (vs. 55 percent of male business owners, and up from 58 percent in 2018)
• 25 percent are planning to hire personnel (vs. 23 percent of male business owners, and up from 21 percent in 2018)
• 52 percent of women entrepreneurs are confident their local economy will improve (up from 49 percent in 2018)

This mix of optimism and momentum reflects the challenge of establishing and financing a small business – including the extent to which gender bias may play a role. For example, more than half of women entrepreneurs say they don’t feel that they have the same access to capital as their male counterparts.

When reflecting upon positive influences on their success, more than half of women business owners identified external factors, such as experiencing adversity, obtaining a college degree and having a mentor, that have helped them achieve success.

When asked for the single character trait that has had the greatest impact on their business success, women entrepreneurs identified integrity as the top personality attribute (23 percent), closely followed by perseverance (22 percent).

Looking to the future, business owners agree that having more women in positions of influence is the most impactful method to pave the way for the next generation of women in business.

And we couldn’t agree more.

At Bank of America, we are the nation’s leading small business lender, and approximately 40 percent of the 12 million small-business owners we serve are women. Bank of America recognizes just how vital women are in driving economic growth.

Education, training and networking play key roles in entrepreneurial success, which is why we have formed partnerships to connect women entrepreneurs to these resources.

Through the Tory Burch Foundation Capital Program, we have committed more than $50 million to help female entrepreneurs grow their businesses. For the sixth consecutive year, we also partnered with the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), serving as the presenting sponsor of the annual Women’s Business Conference.

We are proud to do our part by providing the capital, opportunities and tools women entrepreneurs tell us they need to help launch and grow their businesses, so that they have the power to advance their businesses and make significant contributions to our economy.

For more research findings on the 2019 Women Business Owner Spotlight, .

Lynn Searles is a senior vice president and senior relationship manager of business banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

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