PayPal Small Business Month Celebrated the Resilience and Importance of Entrepreneurs
We all know how critical small businesses are to our local communities and the overall global economy. The World Bank estimates they represent an estimated 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. And this is just counting formal businesses; there are so many more entrepreneurs who are self-employed, freelancing, or doing it as a “side-hustle.”
After two years of brutal economic conditions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), many of which disproportionately impacted underserved minority and women-owned entrepreneurs, business creation is on the rise. Here in the U.S., in the first three quarters of 2021, 5.4 million new businesses launched, creating 1.9 million jobs. Much of this growth is being driven by these underserved entrepreneurs that were hit the hardest. A study by the Kauffman Foundation found that since 2020, more Black-owned businesses, proportionate to the total population, have been started than at any other time in the previous 25 years.
However, after facing many months of depressed demand, small business owners now must respond to inflation, tight labor markets, and supply chain disruptions. Half of SMBs in a recent survey said economic uncertainty could hurt their sales in the second half of the year.
This past May, we celebrated our fifth annual PayPal Small Business Month, honoring how critical entrepreneurs are to the fabric of our communities and the health of our economy.
Recognizing the new struggles that small businesses will face, it was appropriate that we kicked off our PayPal Small Business Month campaign alongside the Small Business Administration, stressing how public and private sectors must work together to empower entrepreneurial resilience and growth. The roundtable, with SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman and PayPal Senior Vice President of Payments & SMB Solutions Jim Magats, was part of the Small Business Digital Alliance, a convening of business and government leaders to help enable greater adoption of digital tools.
Those engagements with public policy officials, thought leaders, and SMB organizations are an important aspect of our annual Small Business Month activities to identify the unique needs of diverse entrepreneurs and explore ways in which the public and private sectors can support them. On May 19, PayPal, in partnership with Reimagine Main Street, published a survey of more than 2,500 diverse SMBs and hosted a virtual panel discussion on small business trust in financial institutions and access to capital which included PayPal’s Fabrice Coles. PayPal Senior Associate of Government Relations Paul Disselkoen spoke on two panels, the first hosted by the National Asian/Pacific Islander Chamber and the second hosted by the SBA on expanding access to capital for underserved communities.
Throughout the month, we also announced key partnerships to more holistically support our small business customers’ financial lives. PayPal announced a partnership with Aon that will help millions of PayPal small business customers in the U.S. shop for, purchase, and manage insurance coverage through the PayPal Commerce Platform. PayPal also announced the launch of its Tap to Pay solution for micro and small businesses in the U.K., Sweden, and the Netherlands to enable quick and easy in-person checkout with no additional hardware or fees. Additionally, PayPal launched its PayPal Working Capital solution in France and the Netherlands, bringing small business financing to these countries.
Most importantly, PayPal Small Business Month is about celebrating our small business success stories. Throughout the month we were able to feature entrepreneurs and other key small business supporters. You can go to our Newsroom to check out the features on beauty brand Kiramoon and sleep aid manufacturer Hatch, as well as advice from some of our SMB mentors.
This year, we were incredibly proud to again celebrate our PayPal Small Business Month with so many key partners along the way. Entrepreneurs will be facing key challenges throughout the rest of 2022, so it is imperative that we carry forward this momentum to ensure they have the support they need to survive and thrive.