“For the first time in the last two and a half years, granted not a hardly long tenure, I feel by far the most uncertainty.”
Leanne Mauriello owns and operates Evolve Health Advisors, a health care consulting firm. She says economic unease has caused her and many other small business owners, especially women entrepreneurs, to scale back growth.
“As well as just really recognizing that it’s taking a lot longer to gain new business and the new business that I am gaining is much smaller than what I’ve experienced for the last two and a half years.”
Workers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization were recently laid off. That office promotes women- and veteran-owned small businesses in government contracting.
The economic forum has allowed more than a dozen women-owned small business leaders to voice their concerns to Grand Rapids’ Democratic U.S. Representative Hillary Scholten.
“We heard from so many women here today who talked about the challenges that they face, particularly as women – growing, starting and maintaining a small business in industries in particular that were not designed for them.”
Attendees said they hope this is just the start of a larger conversation about supporting small business, especially those owned by women, throughout the state.
