Until that time, though, we must acknowledge and address the range of little discussed factors that impact even modest success in business in terms of revenues, employment, longevity and profitability. Such narrowly defined business outcomes are most influenced by what I call "invisible capital", all of those often intangible assets an entrepreneur needs when a great idea, a good attitude and hard work are not enough to survive or thrive in these tumultuous times.
No doubt, American entrepreneurs and new business ventures need our help more than ever, and the Commerce Department's brand new Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is an excellent step in the right direction. However, if the president's goal is to create good jobs in a timely fashion -- jobs that will last because the firms in which they are created are the most viable of the roughly 26 million businesses in operation today -- then this proposal will simply not work.
The good news is that President Obama can still summon the audacity to craft initiatives that provide incentives for the most sustainable enterprises to create living wage jobs in partnership with the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFIs). The CDFI Fund's mission is to "expand the capacity of financial institutions to provide credit, capital, and financial services to under-served populations and communities".
By targeting those businesses that add to our economy's virtuous cycle through strong, already established federal programs, Obama can preside over a broadly felt economic recovery that's based on more than just hope and Beltway clichà ©s.
Chris Rabb is a fellow at Demos and a visiting researcher at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity to be published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in Fall 2010
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