Transcript:
Good morning everyone, Greetings from the New York Stock Exchange, my name’s Duncan Niederauer and I’m here to talk to you about an exciting new initiative that we’re just launching today. I think we’d all agree that job creation is a critically important and shared responsibility for, not only this country, but, really, the entire world.
And our focus with this new initiative is going to be on the small business community. You may not know this but, 99% of the businesses in the United States are what we call small businesses. these are main street America businesses, these are our neighbors and frankly these are the back bone of the economy and therefore they’re our future they are our tomorrow We believe it’s the responsibility of exchanges and the corporate community to do what they can to help energize and mobilize these small businesses that desperately need the opportunity to grow and succeed and then it create jobs in the economy.
So we’re going to be working with ACCION, the entrepreneurs organization and the start up America partnership to launch what we call the NYSE Big Start Up. It’s about big companies helping small companies. It’s about big companies re-purposing and redirecting their corporate responsibility efforts to make, what I would call, in-kind donations of services, whether it’s help with a website presence, tax and accounting advice, business training, logistics help, etc, etc.
In addition, we think another key focus for the small business community is their ability to get access to affordably priced capital. So with that in mind, a component of the NYSE Big Start Up will be to work with ACCION, NYSE job growth fund which we are seeding with $1.5 million dollars today. We welcome contributions from other big corporations but that’s our way of saying that there will be some capital there available for these small companies to access, as they look for opportunities to grow.
So we’re excited about the potential that the NYSE Big Start Up can have for main street and for small businesses everywhere. And we look forward to partnering with some of the great companies here at the NYSE. to make a difference in the lives of many SME’s. Again, these are our neighbors, these are the future, and this is about the economy and the well-being of society.
So, we look forward to doing our part and we look forward to others joining us. See you out there.
Steve Case: Every big company starts small. They start as a start up. You know, even Walmart started with one store in Arkansas and then now there is over a million employees and operations all around the the world. So, every big company has to start small, but the opportunity as a nation is to focus on that.
Make sure the government policy is right to be part of our entrepreneurship, but the private sector has to play a role as well. And what we’re trying to do with the Startup America Partnership, is get the companies that used to be small but are now big, to give back help the next generation of companies make that same, try to drive that same growth and then building great companies that can drive our economy and create lots of jobs.
Gina Harman: For twenty years we’ve been working with small businesses all across this country, helping them to find the capital they need to get started, to stay afloat and to bring If one in three small businesses in the country, hired one additional employee, there would be no unemployment in the United States.
That It’s a pretty remarkable force when you look at small businesses and their ability to generate jobs in our country. And we can use it, and use it now. So ACCION was absolutely delighted to be part of this organizational effort to grow jobs and grow businesses in the United States.
Bob Strade:
Both the entrepreneur’s organization and NYSE Euronext recognize the critical role that business owners play in society which is why a partnership between the two is such a natural fit. By focusing on combining the resources of both NYSE listed companies, and entrepreneurial firms, we will create jobs and work towards a more robust economy.
One of the main goals of this partnership is to provide a shot in the arm to the American work force, facilitating new business opportunities, will lead to new job opportunities.
Scott Case:
New York Stock Exchange is building a fantastic marketing platform to connect those young companies with some of America’s largest companies. They’ve created a whole new program called Big Start Up which is focusing on helping companies with business development and young companies get access to large companies, as well as getting those same young companies access to great mentoring and great main experts in those large companies.
Scott Cutler:
Ultimately if we are successful, people will have the opportunity to collaborate, to connect, to communicate and provide training and mentoring and potentially funding opportunities for these small businesses. We’re really excited to get to work with this great initiative, and we’re hoping that you’re going to be able to pledge your support and direct some of your business to the entrepreneurs and the startups that ultimately can have great impact on our society.
