Keep local businesses thriving with employee ownership
Watch the webinar: Keep local businesses thriving with employee ownership
Recorded on: Thursday, December 3, 2020
Project Equity, Cambridge Local First, American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) and Asheville Grown presented information on how locally-owned businesses can thrive with employee ownership.
Local businesses are the backbone of our communities. They are facing significant challenges due to the COVID-19 crisis. Regrettably, many of these locally-anchored businesses are at risk of closing simply because of a global crisis that froze demand and stalled cash flow and requires constant shifting and planning for an uncertain future. Add to this the challenge that baby boomers own nearly half of privately held businesses with employees in the United States. Cities and regions need to understand the risk of the “Silver Tsunami” as these business owners retire. The risk is that these businesses will not be retained locally—either because they quietly close down, are sold to out of area buyers or simply do not have a succession plan.
In this webinar, we heard from the following employee ownership experts:
- Alison Lingane and Miyaka Cochrane from Project Equity
- Theodora Skeadas from Cambridge Local First
- Derek Pebbles from American Independent Business Alliance
Employee ownership increases engagement, dedication and ingenuity, which are key to business success, especially during this uncertain time.
Employee Ownership Provides Many Benefits to the Business and the Owner
- Preserves legacy in the community
- Provides a good sale price
- Owner can stay involved if desired following the sale
- Creates more worker stability and lowers turnover
- Grows employee engagement and productivity
Don’t miss
Our latest
articles
Job quality agenda for the new administration
A Job Quality Agenda for the Next Administration was written by The Aspen Institute Job Quality Fellows urging policymakers to build an agenda for economic recovery focused on job quality and economic inclusion.
City of Santa Clara Partnership
The City of Santa Clara launched an initiative to assist locally-owned businesses that are at risk of closure to learn about the option of employee ownership.
2021 New Years Resolution
2021 is a new year, and a great time to make a resolution to focus on succession planning.
Proof for employee ownership
Employee-owned companies have protected their workers’ jobs four times better than other firms and suffered fewer cuts to hours and pay during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study.
EOX Partnership
On December 2, 2020, the Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX) and Project Equity announced their new partnership designed to amplify employee ownership models as ways to preserve small businesses, strengthen jobs and communities and address the acute need for local economic resiliency.
