Yesterday I was one of 14 people who had the privilege of participating in a roundtable hearing, hosted by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The purpose was to “explore the unique challenges that young entrepreneurs face and possible solutions to their problems”. My co-witnesses included Monique Coleman (actress from High School Musical, Dancing with the Stars and founder of her own startup for teens - and no, she is not high school age. In fact, she’s older than me! Beautiful and sweet and charming, but I digress). Also testifying were the owners of Georgetown Cupcake (the stars of TLC’s DC Cupcakes who yes, brought cupcakes for everyone) Rachel Weeks (the founder of School House, a socially responsible fashion company that retails to major colleges and universities), Enrique Arauz (a student in the Hillman Entrepreneurs program at Prince George’s Community College), and an eclectic mix of academics, lenders, researchers, and entrepreneurship experts. Full witness list here
Sitting around a huge table, Senator Landrieu opened up the meeting by explaining how much she values young entrepreneurs and the role that they can play in the broader economy. Her passion was clear then and throughout the remainder of the hearing.
From there ensued a lively discussion about how to help young entrepreneurs. During the course of the next 2 hours, the three major themes that emerged were
All agreed that it was particularly difficult for young entrepreneurs – even more so than older entrepreneurs or young entrepreneurs in years past - to get the resources they need. They shared compelling evidence – personal, anecdotal and research based – about just how hard that initial hurdle is to overcome.
My role in particular was to speak about the economic state of the Millennial generation, how that context, particularly in this recession, impacts entrepreneurship among young adults, and what ways the federal government could be of help. Basically, I used a lot of numbers and stories to explain that, simply put, we’re coming of age in a sucky economy, the idea of the American Dream as a possible reality in our economic state is almost laughable, we face outlandish debt, unemployment, declining wages, and higher costs of living. The post-World War II social contract that created a path from affordable education toa good job to a house and then kids is effectively broken for most of us and now we are left with nothing but our own creativity, energy, and ambition.
This creates an unusually challenging environment for Millennial entrepreneurs, despite our sociological affinity towards self-employment and, in particular, social entrepreneurship to solve pressing societal problems. At several points in the conversation I also felt it my duty (as I always do) to speak on behalf of the people underrepresented in the room – those young people who, when turned down by banks, don’t have angel investors and savings to fall back on, many of whom – though not all - are low-income people people of color.
How many dreams and excellent ideas die in neighborhoods and communities where people’s parents don’t have safety nets to support their children’s budding dreams and part time wages don’t lend themselves to putting “extra” money away in a vision fund? My point was well taken and seemed to resonate.
During this part of the conversation there was a noticeable anti-bank sentiment in the room particularly from Sen. Landrieu who completely skipped calling on the one banker in the room for opening comments or response. The slight appeared deliberate. If so, it was telling of her larger frustration with the small banking industry which, despite continued special support from the federal gov’t, doesn’t seem to be supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs in a way consistent with their mission. At one point, after hearing the story of Ms. Weeks, the young Fulbright scholar in the room who with a great business plan, large contracts in hand, and a flawless track record could not find a loan, Sen. Landrieu said that if this problem could not be solved moving forward she intended to make small banks “miserable”.
The other parts of the discussion (education and financial literacy) were the parts I found to be most inspiring. (Talking about how your generation has no money and no access to it can really get you down…) We explored the idea that so many young people – beginning in their childhood - don’t grow up with even the idea that entrepreneurship is a possibility, despite it being one of the core cultural staples of our nation. Young people who don’t know that Fulbright supports certain entrepreneurial endeavors as well as academic pursuits. Who don’t know difference between business and personal credit. The fact that entrepreneurship classes are only offered to business majors and not to artists and scientists and culinary students and sociology majors (thus limiting their ability to develop the skills necessary to later turn their passions into a viable business).
The good news is that the conversation was peppered with real, practical solutions to all of these problems. Here are just a few of the concrete ideas that evolved:
Near the end, one of the women in the room said that “America is one of the only places where it is ok to fail and fail again. Ultimately, here, after much failure, you can still ultimately succeed”. If everyone matched Senator Landrieu’s focus on young entrepreneurs, many more will have any opportunity to do both. I can’t wait to see not only what her committee does, but how I can put what I learned about entrepreneurship and the systems currently set up to support us into practice in my own life and in the lives of the other young dreamers I know. For that outcome alone, yesterday’s hearing was a 2 hours well spent.
