COLUMBIA, S.C. — This week is National Small Business Week, a chance for local leaders to celebrate and highlight what small businesses mean to the area.
“If we can get a little bit more exposure and help in all those areas I think it could be a lot of small businesses that are struggling, they can come afloat,” Mauricio Ottich said.
Ottich is the co owner of Ottich Enterprise, a used car dealership in West Columbia. He says there are many struggles of being a small business owner.
“We can’t offer a lot of the benefits that big corporations do. I think that’s one of the things that’s been happening in the last two years. We bump into great people, great team, but they end up going and getting hired somewhere else because we can’t offer good benefits,” Ottich said.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there were over 400,000 small businesses in the state in 2022…employing over 800,000 people.
“Small businesses make up 99.4% of all businesses in our state, which means that we are a part of the huge economic engine that’s running our state. The contributions that we make from the tax base to employing people is huge. We want to make sure that we recognize and honor those small businesses and the contributions that they make to our overall society,” Columbia Chamber of Commerce Chair Karen Jenkins said.
As part of small business week, the Columbia Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Palmetto Citizen Federal Credit Union to provide guidance, resources and motivation to five small businesses to kick start their journeys.
Williams & McCall Consulting was one of those five.
“I think it will help us grow tremendously because sometimes there’s obstacles and things you don’t know about starting out as a small business. Research shows it takes around three years to get stable and it may take longer to help promote that growth. I'm very honored to have been chosen,” Crystal Wlliams of Williams & McCall Consulting, said.
Small Business Week continues all week, ending on Saturday.