The message that echoed through the meeting hall in Oakland at the second Governor’s Conference on Small Business and Entrepreneurship was that entrepreneurs and small business would lead the state out of its fiscal woes.
Small business is the engine of the economy, creates jobs, and will produce an economy to help overcome California’s difficult fiscal situation, many speakers said.
Governor Schwarzenegger, sitting in on a mid-day panel discussion on California’s economic recovery, asserted that, "Green tech is where the action is." Despite the recession, the governor said California continued to create jobs because of its emphasis on green technology.
The governor said business has shifted toward green tech manufacturing because of California’s laws limiting greenhouse gases.
Another panelist, Milken Institute founder, Michael Milken, had some practical advice for small businesses that are searching for capital to grow their businesses. Milken advised entrepreneurs to look to large companies as a source of capitol. He said large companies have $1 trillion in excess liquidity now and these companies can and will loan to their suppliers and customers.
Milken pointed out that large businesses do not function without small businesses working with them. Large tankers need tug boats to maneuver in the harbor, he said. Milken said large companies are more likely to help their customers and suppliers because they know the small companies better than bankers do.
Milken also argued that institutional investors would look to small business and entrepreneurs to find fast growing companies so they can gain the returns that they won’t get from many other investments.
Milken argued despite California’s reputation as a non-business friendly state because of high taxes and over regulation, the state has an advantage that other states cannot offer. Milken contended that the fastest growing parts of the world, the Far East, Latin America, and the Middle East have strong connections to the Golden State because of large populations in California that come from those locales. Milken advised the thousand small business owners in the audience to "think internationally".