Gov. Perry Hosts Small Business Summit in the Rio Grande Valley

Press Release

Gov. Perry Hosts Small Business Summit in the Rio Grande Valley

Gov. Rick Perry today hosted a small business summit in the Rio Grande Valley aimed at providing area small business with the tools for future success and opportunities for immediate growth. Summits have already been held in El Paso and San Antonio and other summits will be held around the state in coming months.

"When small business prospers, Texas prospers," Perry said, noting that 98 percent of Texas businesses are small businesses. "In the future, if Texas is to remain a place where jobs and opportunity are abundant, where the American dream is within reach and where government priorities are funded by a growing economy instead of a growing tax burden then we must help small employers succeed today."

Perry encouraged local small business owners to take advantage of the opportunities presented at the summit, which offered advice on accessing growth capital, Health Savings Accounts and becoming certified as a Historically Underutilized Business (HUB). The HUB program connects minority-owned businesses to contracting opportunities with the State of Texas and, just last year, ensured that more than $1.5 billion in state dollars was awarded to minority-owned businesses.

Representatives from approximately 30 state agencies were present to help business owners submit bids on numerous state contracts.

"I encourage Rio Grande Valley small business owners to submit a bid on state contracts not just because these investments could add millions of new dollars to the local economy, but because Texans in every corner of the state will benefit from the excellent services provided by some of the state's premiere private sector leaders," Perry said. "The State of Texas is ready to do business with the best and brightest entrepreneurs in Texas and that includes the more than 15,000 minority-run businesses that are HUB-certified."

Perry noted that the Texas legislature has passed numerous bills designed to help small business, including reforming the Texas workers compensation system, asbestos lawsuit reforms, an additional $15 million in workforce training funds, and millions for job creation and technology initiatives.

"Small business is important to me, not just because I helped my dad run one, but because it represents the best of Main Street America," Perry said. "If Texas is to prosper long into the future, we must always be a state where a dream can be put to work, where the regulatory environment is not burdensome - or the tax climate prohibitive - and where there is access to capital, talent and workforce training."

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