During Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s inauguration speech, he discussed that his commitment to small business and the importance of this focus.
State Housing and Economic Development Secretary, Greg Bialecki, said Patrick and his staff have been conversing with small business owners in order to address their top areas of concern, especially health care. With the costs of health insurance potentially going up with the new health care laws, small business owners are very hesitant to hire new employees. According to Bialecki, it is hard to get out of a recession when small businesses are not hiring.
Last year, the governor supported cutting health-care costs. His goal is to help small businesses get better insurance rates by using a pilot program that allows them to join together. They are writing the plan now and it is anticipated to be released in a few months.
The Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation was created last October by consolidating two loan programs.
These changed were made to help small businesses obtain loans; they have issued $3.6 million in loans to 14 companies. Small businesses can contact this agency for services provided by the state including advice to loans.
They also want to make the loan process more efficient and transparent. However, the state is working on a program with other lenders in the hopes that small businesses can obtain microloans through the new program.
