On the last day of the Democratic National Convention, Mayor Leonardo Williams of Durham, North Carolina, stepped on the stage and spoke about how the Biden-Harris administration helped he and his wife realize their dream of opening the first Zimbabwean restaurant in America.
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“It takes capital, he said; not everybody can have a multi-million dollar loan from their father.”
Small-business grants helped the restaurant expand to three locations and hire 30 employees who earn a living wage, Williams said.
The mayor praised the Harris administration as the party that can help small business entrepreneurs. The Williams family are only one example of how small business entrepreneurs can thrive under a Harris administration.
In keeping with this theme, GOBankingRates spoke to small business entrepreneurs about how a Harris presidency could implement policies to help them succeed.
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STEM Education
Dev Nag, CEO and founder at QueryPal, said the Harris administration should focus on policies that foster innovation, expand access to talent, and create a level playing field for startups to compete.
“As the founder of a small but growing tech company, I’d like to see a significant increase in funding for STEM education and workforce development programs.”
“By investing in technical skills training and computer science education at all levels, from K-12 through postsecondary [school] and adult learning, we can build a larger, more diverse talent pool to fuel the tech sector’s growth,” Nag continued.
This would help address the persistent tech talent shortage while creating more pathways into high-paying tech jobs for Americans from all backgrounds, Nag said.
“Moreover, bolstering our STEM capabilities is crucial for maintaining our technological edge and national security in an era of increasing competition with countries like China,” he concluded.
Immigration Reforms
Nag also wants to see reforms to our immigration system that make it easier for skilled workers and entrepreneurs to come to the U.S. This can be achieved by “expanding programs like the H-1B visa and creating a startup visa for foreign-born founders, which would allow American tech companies to attract top global talent and help the U.S. maintain its edge as the world’s leading innovation hub,” Nag said.
These policies would benefit not just tech firms, but the broader economy — spurring new company formation, job creation, and technological breakthroughs, per Nag.
“It’s crucial that we focus on attracting highly skilled immigrants, especially in critical fields like artificial intelligence, to enhance our national competitiveness.”
“Foreign-born individuals have founded more than half of American tech companies, including Google, Nvidia, eBay, Stripe, SpaceX, Instacart, and Uber, and our immigration policy shouldn’t be a self-imposed handicap – it should be our secret weapon for maintaining America’s technological supremacy,” Nag said.
Antitrust Regulatory Policies
Antitrust enforcement and regulatory policies could prevent large tech incumbents from stifling competition and innovation.
“By more aggressively scrutinizing mergers and acquisitions in the tech sector and cracking down on anticompetitive practices, we can create more space for startups and small businesses to challenge established players,” Nag said.
“This would lead to more dynamism and innovation in the tech industry, ultimately benefiting consumers through better products and services.”
Pro-competition policies also align the interests of small businesses with those of the American people, who stand to gain from increased choice, lower prices, and faster technological progress, according to Nag.
Funding for Women and Minority-owned Businesses
Under the Biden administration, SBA lending has reached new heights — and we can expect that to continue in a Harris administration, said Rohit Arora, CEO and co-founder of Biz2Credit. Harris has been vocal about expanding access to capital for small businesses, particularly for women- and minority-owned businesses, and in communities underserved by banks.
“Without adequate funding, small businesses cannot succeed; the good news is that with interest rates likely to go down, businesses that need funding will be able to get it at a lower cost of capital,” Arora said.
Startup Funding Programs
As a serial entrepreneur and founder of two companies — RiseOpp, a fractional CMO and SEO services company, and RiseAngle, a generative A.I. game creation company — Kaveh Vahdat has successfully raised funding.
Vahdat said he’s deeply invested in how a Harris administration can help entrepreneurs succeed. He said he finds it critically important for all founders, tech-focused and non-tech companies alike.
“I’d like to see government startup funding programs directly competing with venture capital and equity crowdfunding to make capital more accessible and level the playing field.”
More Equitable Government-Funded Investment Programs
Venture capitalists (VCs) in the U.S. have historically been predominantly run by white males who also invest mostly in businesses led by white males, so access to capital is not equally distributed, Vahdat claimed.
VCs usually have a narrow focus and favor investing primarily in moonshot businesses and overlook lifestyle businesses for the most part, Vahdat said. He added that government grants such as Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are beneficial, but overly focused on research.
“Financing has become a risky option for founders, especially with today’s high interest rates. Additionally, in the past two years, funding availability, even from V.C.s, has declined, partly due to increasing interest rates, which raises the cost of borrowing money for everyone, including V.C.s who fundraise themselves,” Vahdat said.
Vahdat suggested that many startups fail because they cannot raise funding, while countries like Canada and China have much stronger government-supported funding programs for their startups.
“What I would love to see from a [Harris administration, if elected] are more equitable, government-funded investment programs that invest in startups for equity; I believe this will significantly boost innovation and create many more jobs.”
Editor’s note on election coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. For more coverage on this topic, please check out I’m an Entrepreneur: Here’s How a Trump Administration Could Help Me Succeed.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: I’m an Entrepreneur: Here’s How a Harris Administration Can Help Me Succeed
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