Governor expresses optimism at Small Business Economic Summit

SMITHFIELD – More than 200 business owners, leaders and advocates gathered with Rhode Island’s top officials Friday at Bryant University to try and get their voices heard and needs recognized for the upcoming legislative session under a new administration.
The 2015 Rhode Island Small Business Economic Summit was hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Center for Women & Enterprise.
State and federal politicians, including Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, met with small business owners, bankers and lobbyists to discuss what needs to be done in order to strengthen the state’s slowly recovering economy, which continues to lag behind the rest of the nation.
“This is just the beginning,” said Susan Rittscher, president and CEO of the Center for Women & Enterprise. “New legislators, new hopes, new dreams, and coming together as the business community, the technical support people, the legislators and the business owners, which are really the heart of this, is a really important thing for us to do, especially to kick off this New Year.”
Raimondo, who delivered a speech after officially having been governor for about 72 hours, told those attending that she needed their ideas and optimism.
“If we’re going to do this [economic] turnaround, what we do is important, but how we do is just as important. I don’t want negativity. I want positivity and openness to being great and to doing something differently and igniting the comeback that Rhode Island deserves,” Raimondo said.
The new governor’s optimism was welcomed with cheers, and perhaps some reprieve, as many had spent a portion of their mornings listening to University of Rhode Island economics professor Leonard Lardaro, who candidly laid out the state’s economic health.
The economics professor, who focuses specifically on Rhode Island’s economy, laid out specifics of how the Ocean State – in comparison with other New England states – has struggled and will continue to struggle without systemic change. Referencing the most recent recession, Lardaro noted that Rhode Island employment peaked first, before falling the furthest, hitting the bottom first, and recovering the slowest.
One of the real reasons why Rhode Island’s economy is recovering at all is because it’s bolstered by a U.S. economy on the upswing, he added.
“The economy doesn’t turn itself around … that’s just wishful thinking,” Lardaro said.
The new governor echoed some of Lardaro’s sentiment saying that while the economy is improving, it’s a different economy than what Rhode Islanders remember from the past.
Her sanguinity looking forward, however, remains intact.
“There is no one thing [to fix the economy] and it won’t happen quickly. We need to focus on our strengths and we need to implement that strategy every single day,” Raimondo said. “I have confidence that we’re going to move this state forward and the reason I’m so confident is because of all of you.”

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