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November 27, 2006

MNB 11/27/06: Small Business Finances Survey Released

It's mostly about money this week, with our lead story on the release (finally!) of the latest Federal Reserve Board Survey of Small Business Finances. There's also a relevant piece this week about microenterprise development, and microfinance, in the U.S.

The upshot of all this is that access to capital is clearly still a problem for micros but not enough people seem to feel any sense of urgency about addressing the issue.

Listen to this week's podcast.


For more information:

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
National Women's Business Council
SBA Office of Women's Business Ownership
Association of Women's Business Centers
ACCION International


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Posted by The MicroEnterprise Journal at 12:52 AM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2006

MNB 11/20/06: Kerry Outlines Senate Panel Agenda

We head into Thanksgiving week with a report of a thankful-sounding Senator John Kerry outlining his agenda as the newly appointed Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in the 110th Congress. Kerry definitely sounds like he's ready to roll; we'll see if he can accomplish as much as he hopes.

Plus new research on small business lending and some tips from Shop.org to help online microbusiness retailers make the most of the already-in-progress year end holiday shopping season.

Listen to this week's podcast.


For more information:

Senate Small Business Committee Democrats
SBA Office of Advocacy
Shop.org


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Posted by The MicroEnterprise Journal at 01:01 AM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2006

MNB 11/13/06: New Gizmos, Old Issues in the Next 'Tech-ade'

Election week was last week and an interesting time was had by all. Of course, while the rest of the media's eyes were all fixed on the ballot box, your trusty microbusiness reporter was preoccupied with the duel matters of the intersection between the Interent and e-commerce and the nation's microbusinesses.

And a sub-theme for the week was in defense of microbusinesses themselves -- fun, fun, fun!

Listen to this week's podcast.


For more information:

Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade - FTC hearings
JupiterResearch
SBA Office of Advocacy
White House Press Conference (transcript)


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Posted by The MicroEnterprise Journal at 08:12 AM | Comments (0)

November 06, 2006

MNB 11/06/06: FTC Welcomes The Micro Perspective

A couple of months ago, I was complaining in The MicroEnterprise Journal about the FTC's Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade hearings because the voice of microbusinesses was likely to be absent from the proceedings.

Well, blow me down! Event organizer Catherine Harrington-McBride, an FTC staff member, heard what I had to say and decided to invite me to participate. Later this week, I'll get my chance to instruct the agency on some microbusiness consumer protection issues that are likely to arise from upcoming technological developments.

How cool is that?

Listen to this week's podcast.

For more information:

Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade - FTC hearings
Senate Small Business Committee, Democrats
Online Holiday Sales Will Reach $32 Billion This Year According to JupiterResearch (press release)
Forrester Research: 2006 Online Holiday Retail Sales To Hit $27 Billion (press release)

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Posted by The MicroEnterprise Journal at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)