Presented by AEO in partnership with Empower by GoDaddy

SOURCE: GoDaddy

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Empower by GoDaddy is proud to celebrate 5 years of serving entrepreneurs everywhere. This report is intended as a reflection of our learnings and framework for others to follow suit in supporting local small business owners around the world.

Call to Action: Help Create A Thriving Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

The impact of the Empower program mobilizes the support of multiple actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, each working toward the collective goal of supporting small and microbusiness owners that need access to resources.

An entrepreneurial ecosystem is a network bound together by a culture of trust, collaboration, and strategic alignment that allows stakeholders to foster innovative solutions for entrepreneurs. The speed at which talent, information, and resources move through the ecosystem can affect entrepreneurs at each stage of their business growth. Ecosystem size matters: The economic impact of each additional startup grows as the ecosystem grows. The larger the ecosystem, the higher the performance and average value of each startup.¹

Urban and rural economies benefit tremendously from the growth of local small businesses, and key stakeholders in these communities have the power to lift these business owners in their quest for long-term financial stability. Governments are the most powerful drivers of entrepreneurship given their ability to create an enabling policy and regulatory environment and their role in ensuring innovators have access to necessary technological infrastructure.² Corporations can enable small business success by serving as capital providers, thought leaders, partners, customers, and providers of talent.³ BSOs play the important role of advocating, supporting, and guiding small businesses, addressing disparities in opportunity, and connecting entrepreneurs to training, resources, and capital.⁴

All stakeholders stand to benefit from an investment in microbusiness success, from improved local economies to increased customer potential for business services. As these small business owners build and grow their operations, they create jobs and economic opportunity. But to succeed, they need the cooperation and support in developing a dynamic and compelling digital presence.

This is why AEO and GoDaddy call on policymakers, corporations, and community organizations such as BSOs to join forces in strategic partnerships to support thriving microbusiness ecosystems that can contribute to the health of communities across the country.

_{Photo: Jennifer Woodruff, Naturally Made with Love}

Learn more about Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) here

Learn more about GoDaddy here

_{¹ Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, “Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building Playbook 3.0: What Are Entrepreneurial Ecosystems?” 2019; https://www.kauffman.org/ecosystem-playbook-draft-3/
^​2 International Development Innovation Alliance, “How can development agencies help strengthen innovation ecosystems?” 2019; https://www.idiainnovation.org/role-of-dev-agencies
³ Harvard Business Review, “The Pitfalls (and Upsides) of Partnering with Entrepreneurs,” October 18, 2013; https://hbr.org/2013/10/the-pitfalls-and-upsides-of-partnering-with-entrepreneurs
⁴ LISC, “For an Inclusive Recovery, We Need Support for Small Business and the Groups that Help Them,” June 10, 2021; https://www.mainstreet.org/blogs/national-main-street-center/2021/06/14/for- an-inclusive-recovery-we-need-support-for-sma}

Tweet me: .@AEO and @GoDaddy are calling on policymakers, corporations, and community organizations to join forces and support thriving microbusiness ecosystems that can contribute to the health of communities across the world. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/3OLLDx2

KEYWORDS: NYSE: GDDY, GoDaddy, Empower by GoDaddy, AEO, Association for Employment Opportunities, Small businesses, Microbusinesses, Empower businesses, Empower communities, inclusive