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Leveraging Digital Resources and Training for Small Business Growth and Community Benefit: Help Create A Thriving Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Presented by AEO in partnership with Empower by GoDaddy

Leveraging Digital Resources and Training for Small Business Growth and Community Benefit: Help Create A Thriving Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Presented by AEO in partnership with Empower by GoDaddy

Published 06-02-22

Submitted by GoDaddy

ET Rivera, Tres Leches Café
Photo: ET Rivera, Tres Leches Café

Originally published on AEOWorks.org

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
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

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GoDaddy

GoDaddy

GoDaddy is empowering everyday entrepreneurs around the world by providing all of the help and tools to succeed online. GoDaddy is the place people come to name their idea, build a professional website, attract customers, sell their products and services, and manage their work. Our mission is to give our customers the tools, insights and the people to transform their ideas and personal initiative into success. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

About GoDaddy for Good

GoDaddy focuses on making opportunity more inclusive for all in the communities where we work, live and play across the globe. We rally behind inclusive entrepreneurship and other critical local needs that empower people to succeed through philanthropic and in-kind donations, volunteerism, strategic partnerships and advocacy.

Empower by GoDaddy 

Empower by GoDaddy is GoDaddy's global community and philanthropic program equipping entrepreneurs in underserved communities with training, tools and peer networks to accelerate their journeys. GoDaddy rallies behind entrepreneurs in underserved communities by building their confidence and skills to strengthen their small business’ digital presence.  Entrepreneurs engage in customized learning experiences, work 1-1 with GoDaddy volunteer coaches and local mentors, and gain access to wrap-around services, in-kind products and networks boosting their small businesses success.

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