The Association for Enterprise Opportunity

Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on October 22, 2008

The Rural Enterprise Center/Main Street Project, is now a member of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, based out of Arlington, VA and comprised by small and emerging enterprise members nationwide. From all of the organizations that work for small and medium size businesses, the AEO is the one that we have found best represents our interest at the highest levels of policy making and national influence, and provides the national direction and strategies that allow us to make the most out of our local efforts in rural communities while keeping in touch with the national challenges and opportunities.

According to the AEO, ” in the United States, a microenterprise is usually defined as a business with five or fewer employees, small enough to require initial capital of $35,000 or less. AEO estimates there are more than 23 million microenterprises in the U.S. representing 18% of all private U.S. employment and 87% of all businesses.”

When we think of how we can provide Latino-owned busineses in rural communities with the best representation at the highest levels of policy and support infrastructure, AEO is not only a diverse organization in its views but also does represent the core businesses interest that matter to small business and that are the same for everyone no matter the ethnic background of the business owner.

We look forward to making our established local partnerships even stronger as a result of this solid linkage to AEO which represents some of the best thinkers in small scale economic development strategies.