U.S. Honors Its Top Entrepreneurs

Rudy Boschwitz of Plymouth, Minn., who built from scratch a successful chain of lumber and home improvement stores that now stretches across eight Midwestern states, figures that he knows the mind of the small-business owner.

He said he understands why many small-business owners get upset when they hear that the government wants to impose things such as mandated leaves of absence because he has dealt with the personal problems of more than 1,000 employees.

And in his position as ranking Republican on the Senate Small Business Committee, Boschwitz can do something about it.

This week in particular, the problems of small business were at the top of Boschwitz’ agenda as scores of small-business owners descended on Washington for the Small Business Administration’s 26th-annual Small Business Week.

But Boschwitz and colleagues in Congress agree that it no longer takes a small-business week for such problems to get attention on Capitol Hill.

“Politically, small business has an awful lot of clout,” said Sen. Dale L. Bumpers, (D-Ark.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business. Bumpers said his fellow senators are always willing to listen to what small-business owners have to say, although they don’t always vote to please them.

“Nobody over there (in the Senate) is interested in alienating small business,” said Bumpers.

One of the things that does alienate some small-business owners is legislation, such as the proposal now before Congress to require businesses to offer leaves of absence to employees for maternity or family emergencies. President Bush has promised to veto any such bill.

“To me, mandated leaves are an insult foisted on me by people who think business owners are greedy and heartless,” said Boschwitz.

If anyone was the star of Small Business Week, it was Susan S. Engeleiter, administrator of the Small Business Administration, who served as hostess for virtually every event. Engeleiter, who recently returned from a tour of Hungary and Poland, said people in those countries are eagerly looking toward American small-business owners.

“They desperately need assistance in setting up all kinds of businesses from banking to telephone systems,” said Engeleiter. She said small-business owners should work with the U.S. Department of Commerce and its representatives in foreign embassies to explore opportunities abroad.

Closer to home, she said she will work to expand government contracting opportunities for women, who own about one-third of American small businesses but only receive 1% of the government contracts.

Although the week was designed to fete small-business owners, some of America’s largest corporations were very visible. IBM, Apple Computer Inc., Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance and USA Today were the major patrons of Small Business Week activities. American Express, Bell Atlantic, Coca-Cola Co., the Travelers, Pacific Bell Directory and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were also big contributors.

Although every event held some excitement for the visiting small-business owners, the climax of the week was the national SBA awards ceremony in the Old Executive Office Building. The standing-room-only crowd listened intently to the President, who owned his own small oil-drilling company in Texas more than 40 years ago.

Bush congratulated a stunned Barney Roberts of Storm Lake, Iowa, for receiving the SBA’s top honor of 1990.

Roberts and his wife, Irene, sold their home in 1967 to raise the money to open an office supply store that has since become a success.

“Work hard and take care of your people,” advised Roberts, after chatting with the President.

“The magic of small business is not in the power of its numbers,” Bush said, “but in the power of its dreams.”

The President said America’s entrepreneurs are successful because they thrive on a combination of “adrenaline and anxiety.”

Bush praised small business for being the “backbone of the American economy,” by providing two out of every three new jobs and representing 40% of the gross national product. He urged the winners to keep striving to meet their goals. Said Bush: “No nation ever drowned in sweat.”