C-Suite Wednesday — 41% of Main Street Say Lack of Capital is Hindering their ability to Grow

September 7, 2016

By Bob Coleman
Editor, C-Suite Wedensday

C-Suite Wednesday — 41% of Main Street Say Lack of Capital is Hindering their ability to Grow

The 2016 National Small Business Association Mid-Year Economic Report shows a small-business community that is continuing to plug along, with ongoing concerns over the overall economy.

Economic uncertainty continues to be the number one challenge to the future growth and survival of America’s small businesses.

When it comes to confidence in their own business, small business remains relatively positive, with 72 percent saying they are confident in the future of their own business. Although slightly lower than just six months ago, it is in-line with historic trends whereby small-business owners are much more confident in their own business than the overall economy.

According to NSBA data from as far back as 1993, there is a clear correlation to a small-business owner’s ability to hire and his/her ability to get financing.

Today, the number of small firms who report they are able to access adequate financing is 69 percent, down from 73 percent six months ago—another indicator driven by the smaller firm size of respondents.

There was a drop among those small firms that relied on bank loans, specifically community bank loans and large bank loans; again driven by the smaller business size of the survey respondents.

Forty-one percent of small businesses said lack of capital is hindering their ability to grow their business or expand operations, and 20 percent said they had to reduce the number of employees as a result of tight credit.

When asked about credit cards, 28 percent said the terms of the credit cards they use for their business have worsened in the last six months, up from 19 percent one year ago. One-in-five say they have been impacted by credit card fraud—either from their cards being used fraudulently, or customers using fraudulent cards.

NSBA Mid Year Economic Report 2016