National Small Business Week is the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) annual event that celebrates the innovation and contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small businesses across the country. Recognized through proclamation by the President of the United States since 1963, National Small Business Week takes place the first week in May and is May 5th – May 11th this year.
National Small Business Week Events
Numerous events are scheduled online and across the country during National Small Business Week to include live hackathons, awards ceremonies, a Virtual Conference, and Twitter chat.
SBA and Visa kick-off National Small Business Week with Hackathon 2019 in Washington, D.C. The three-day event challenges participants to build apps and to provide solutions to help America’s small businesses prepare for and/or recover from major natural disasters using application programming interface (API’s) from Visa, the U.S. Government, and third parties.
With several awards ceremonies throughout the country, Washington, D.C. hosts two ceremonies to recognize the National Small Business Person of the Year and other national award winners. Tune in to the ceremonies live on SBA’s Facebook page May 5, 4:00 pm ET and May 6, 10:30 am ET.
In partnership with SCORE, the SBA will host a free two-day Virtual Conference on May 7 and 8 between 11:00 am ET and 5:30 pm ET. The conference includes webinars, one-on-one mentoring sessions, networking chat rooms, giveaways, and other resources for the small business community. The event is open to the public and registration is free.
Additionally, you can join the conversation on May 10 at 12:00 pm ET in the National Small Business Week Twitter Chat. SBA (@SBAgov) hosts the discussion on how to start and grow a small business with industry experts sharing their tips and tricks. Use hashtag #SmallBusinessWeek to join the conversation.
America’s Small Business – By the Numbers
No doubt, small businesses are the leading drivers of our nation’s economy. The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy 2018 U.S. Small Business Profile reports on the leading indicators of American Small Businesses:
• 30.2 million small businesses (99.9% of U.S. businesses)
• 58.9 small business employees (47.5% of the U.S. workforce)
• 8 million minority-owned businesses
• 1.9 million net new jobs added by small businesses
• 287,835 small business exporters
Visit the 2018 Small Business Profiles to learn more about specific states and territories.
About the U.S. Small Business Administration
Under the leadership of Acting SBA Administrator Chris Pilkerton, the mission of the U.S. Small Business Administration is to help “Americans start, build, and grow businesses.”
The SBA was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. To learn more, visit https://www.sba.gov/.
Resources
Interested in starting your own business or looking to grow your existing business? Find Your Local Small Business Development Center for no-cost business advice and free or low-cost trainings.
If you have a small business resource or SBDC story you think would make a great feature, please Contact Us.
