EDC project marks first anniversary

Every company counts. Sounds cliché, but it is more than just a saying. For small businesses, it is the staff of life.
And Louis Soares, associate director of small-business services at the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, is determined to make sure all of the nearly 96,000 small businesses in the state are well-nourished.
Every Company Counts, an initiative of the state’s EDC that works as a clearinghouse for information and services for small businesses, celebrated its one-year anniversary earlier this month with an event at Save The Bay headquarters in Providence.
In one year, ECC received nearly 1,000 calls from small-business owners in the state and made 435 referrals to state agencies, Chambers of commerce and private institutions. The initiative helped organize 120 consulting sessions, 40 training workshops and write 15 business plans from these referrals that generated 13 financing deals, six business relocations, three training grants and one government contract.
A customized, Web-based referral system is planned for early 2006 to link all state agencies in a streamlined referral process.
Michael McMahon, EDC executive director, said small businesses provide the backbone for the state’s economy – illustrated by the fact that nearly 97 percent of the companies in the state with employees are classified as small firms. These small businesses helped create 10,000 new jobs in the last three years – half of the 20,000 goal set by the governor when he took office in 2002, he said.
However, the work is far from done.
Rhode Island businesses are behind the eight ball because of a “failing tax structure” that is considerably higher than Massachusetts and Connecticut and one of the highest in the country, said McMahon.
The state and business community alike must continue to support education because the jobs of the future will require advanced training, he said. The state spends in the top 10 on primary and secondary education but performs about average nationwide on standardized tests.