How do small businesses help the economy

Despite a challenging period for small businesses, many people are still introducing their new enterprises to the world. Recently, there has been a massive influx of new business applications. In 2021, nearly 5.4 million new business applications were filed with a predicted growth of up to 17 million in 2022 according to Intuit. As more owners enter the market, more benefits are added to our country's economy the economic benefits of small business grow. But how exactly do independent businesses help our economy as a whole?

How independent businesses help our economy

According to the Small Business Administration, small companies generate 1.5 million jobs a year and account for 64% of new jobs in America. Small businesses also contribute 44% of the U.S. economic activity, so as the number of new businesses grows so does their economic contributions.

1. Small businesses help support the local economy

By shopping small, people not only help up-and-coming business owners but also their local economy as well. If a person were to spend $100 at a local business, it’s estimated about 68% of that stays within their local economy. If they spent that same amount at a large business around 48% would stay within their local economy. Independent businesses provide their local economies with new jobs, products, revenue, services and more.

2. Charitable and innovative contributions

Small businesses not only contribute economic benefits to their community but also charitable and innovative ones as well. Research shows that 52% of small business owners donate to charity, with 42% of that portion donating up to $1000. Along with their charitable donations, independent businesses also produce 16 times more new patents per employee in comparison to large patenting firms, according to the Small Business Administration.

3. Boosts environmental sustainability

Independent businesses not only provide economic benefits, but environmental ones as well. Big national chains can cause a large environmental impact because they outsource many of their products, which requires a lot of transportation. Small businesses often source their products locally which is more sustainable and helps reduce the environmental effect caused by vast amounts of transportation.

How Elavon helps with small business growth

A small business’s ability to support the economy and make contributions to society are dependent on its ability to accept various types of customer payments. Which is why Elavon provides support for small business merchants with solutions that make payments easy and allow businesses to accept payments anywhere in-store, online, via mobile point-of-sale (POS) systems.

Elavon offers payment solutions for all businesses. From offering retail stores the ability to accept payments anywhere to serving up solutions for restaurants of all types, we serve all kinds of industries, including: Hospitality & Leisure, Government, Services and Healthcare.

Elavon delivers real competitive value for businesses. Our payment solutions are designed to help your business adapt to changing payment environments, improve cash flow and reduce costs for small business through secure payment data and mitigated risk.

Elavon proudly supports over 1.5 million global customers in over 36 countries, safely processing over 6.2 billion transactions every year, enabling $476 billion worth of commerce. This allows independent businesses across the country to keep benefiting our economy, our environment, and local communities.

Contact Elavon to learn more about how we can support your business today.