BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – More than 2,500 small business owners, many from Louisiana, for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Summit in Washington, DC.
It was the largest concentration of small business owners in U.S. history, leaders said. The goal was to give people the opportunity to learn, grow and advocate for their interests.
“It was an opportunity to really get an education, learn from people who have grown and expanded their businesses, hear some of the challenges and solutions they’ve faced, and also advocate for small businesses,” Lakesha Robichhaus said.
Robichaux is the founder and CEO of Boss of Minds in Baton Rouge. She says she gets a chance to sit down with legislators to talk about the challenges they face and the solutions they want to see.
“One thing was capital. As small business owners we have to compete with large corporations. So having access to capital to pay highly competitive fees, being able to offer benefits, so small businesses can compete with that,” Robichaux said.
According to Goldman Sachs Vice President Amy Bezen, that’s the biggest risk facing small businesses across the country.
In this tight job market, it’s just their ability to attract and retain and provide competitive advantages and compete with Amazon’s world and give their employees the benefits they want. he said.
Robichaux said she wants lawmakers to create a program to help small businesses retain employees and offer competitive wages.
“Small businesses should be able to maintain some type of benefits program that will help them attract and negotiate a good benefits package,” Robichaux said.
Despite the challenges, Robichaux said there is plenty of optimism going forward.
“We need solutions, and we need support. That’s why we need to continue to advocate for small businesses to get the funding we need and the backup we need. As long as we have that, I see the future looking positive, but making some changes and good partnerships will help,” said Robichaux.
Other people in attendance included President George W. Bush, Warren Buffett and NBA star Chris Paul.
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