Small businesses are companies with 500 employees or less – and they make up 99 percent of all U-S firms. Of those, nearly half have four employees or fewer. Dan Lara is state director of the Kansas Small Business Development Center. And Brandy Willett runs a regional center in Wichita that serves 10 counties. The centers help small business in a variety of ways, from planning to accessing capital. Lara and Willett talked with KMUW's Tom Shine about the impact of small businesses, the surge of business startups during the pandemic and why anyone would want the stress and long hours associated with starting a business.
Plus more on these stories:
- Wichita’s multi-agency center — now called Second Light — has secured funding for on-site housing units for people experiencing homelessness.
- A Trump administration budget proposal could impact fire prevention and response in Kansas.
- A rural Kansas town with limited access to hospitals is building a helipad to improve its medical response. The upgrade highlights the lack of medical services in parts of the state.
- A federal judge in Iowa ruled against a company that sought to dismantle a long-standing wetlands law called swampbuster.
- The Sedgwick County Health Department will host a free vaccine clinic on Saturday.
- The Kansas Special Olympics Summer Games begin Saturday in the Wichita area.
Producers: Beth Golay
Editors: Tom Shine and Beth Golay
Contributors: Meg Britton-Mehlisch, Maddy Busby, Rachel Cramer, Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Calen Moore and Tom Shine
Theme music: Torin Andersen
Digital editor: Beth Golay
