Sam Rikkers, WEDC Deputy Secretary and COO
Good morning. I am Sam Rikkers, Deputy Secretary and COO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
I would like to thank Representative Armstrong and members of the committee for inviting WEDC to discuss the ways our team is supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs across Wisconsin.
At Chairman Armstrong’s request, I would like to provide an overview of how WEDC is working to assist entrepreneurs and startups throughout their businesses’ life cycles, with a special focus on small businesses and manufacturers. My colleague Shayna Hetzel, WEDC’s Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, will then provide a more detailed look at how we are aiming to help high-growth startups scale-up into mature companies.
With its history of innovation, our state has been a fertile ground for entrepreneurs looking to create the next great Wisconsin business, whether it’s Trek Bicycles getting started in its fabled red barn in Waterloo, Culver’s serving their first butter burger at a restaurant in Sauk City, or S.C. Johnson mixing its first batch of floor wax in Racine. At WEDC we are committed to investing in our entrepreneurs and in doing so helping to continue this tradition.
It is important to recognize that entrepreneurs and new businesses of all sizes and type, including small businesses, are essential to Wisconsin’s economic growth. As new businesses grow, they create jobs and opportunities throughout their community. They also create generational wealth for families and investors, and they stimulate additional investments in the community.
At the start of this decade, Wisconsin experienced rapid growth in business formations. A survey of Department of Financial Institutions records by WisBusiness.com found that the number of new business formations in Wisconsin rose 42 percent between 2019 and 2021. By comparison, the year-over-year increases going back to 2011-2012 were between 3.2 and 8.4 percent, the survey found.
Many of those new businesses began as small businesses, with fewer than 500 employees, and many will remain small businesses for their entire life cycle. While we at WEDC aim for growth, we also recognize that small businesses are the backbone of our communities, accounting for nearly 98 percent of all businesses in our state and employing more than 450,000 Wisconsin workers every day.
With that in mind I would like to talk briefly about one of WEDC’s most successful recent initiatives, the Main Street Bounceback Grant program, and how we are continuing to build on the momentum these grants created for small businesses in communities throughout our state.
The idea behind the Bounceback grants, created by Governor Evers in 2021, was simple: provide a flat grant of $10,000 to any business that moved or expanded into a previously vacant commercial site. There was minimal paperwork and the grants were administered by regional planning commissions and regional economic development organizations.
The response was incredible. Between 2021 and 2022, nearly 9,500 businesses in all 72 counties received these grants, including:
- 130 businesses in Barron County.
- 486 businesses in Waukesha County.
- 159 businesses in Washington County.
- 172 businesses in Ozaukee County.
- 742 businesses in Dane County.
- And 2,411 businesses in Milwaukee County.
The grants enabled thousands of new businesses to open their doors, while existing businesses were able to open new branches or move into bigger spaces. Across Wisconsin, downtowns experienced a new sense of excitement as vacant storefronts turned into thriving shops, restaurants, and offices.
To ensure these businesses continued to grow, WEDC began offering the Main Street Bounceback Technical Assistance and Training program last year to provide free training, professional advice, and technical assistance through the Universities of Wisconsin’s Small Business Development Centers.
Initially, this help was open only to Main Street Bounceback grant recipients, but in January 2025, the program was opened to all small businesses throughout the state. This free help – which covers everything from HR and marketing to tax questions and more – will be available for at least the next two years thanks to $5 million in federal funding allocated by Governor Evers.
So far, more than 643 Bounceback businesses have received advice and other help through the program, and SBDC is planning to convene more than 100 training sessions around the state this year – with a special focus on outreach to rural small businesses that may not have the same access to resources as their urban peers.
Taking a lesson from the success of the Main Street Bounceback program, this month, WEDC is launching the Small Business Development Grant program, which will provide a total of $3.18 million to help 19 communities and community groups expand their support for local entrepreneurs. Secretary Hughes and I will be visiting many of these communities over the next few months to highlight how WEDC is helping create the conditions where everyone in our state has the opportunity to thrive.
Both the technical assistance program and the Small Business Development Grants are examples of how WEDC leverages its partnerships with other public- and private-sector organizations to maximize the community resources available to businesses throughout their life cycles.
Through initiatives like the Capital Catalyst grant program, WEDC partners with Community Development Financial Institutions, such as the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation, the First American Capital Corporation, and other organizations to offer low-interest revolving loans to startups and microbusinesses so they can gain a foothold and start to grow.
Startups and growing businesses also need technical assistance and advice, and once again, WEDC’s partnerships in the community allow us to deliver that help in a local setting – whether it is in the form of specialized training, advice and support, accelerators, or business incubators.
For example, through our Entrepreneurship Partner Grant program, WEDC is working with Couleecap, to provide 70 entrepreneurs with technical assistance and 15 entrepreneurs with financial assistance in Crawford, La Crosse, Monroe, and Vernon counties. Meanwhile, our partnership with the UW’s Food Finance Institute provides industry-specific advice and guidance to startups in the food and beverage sector. And our partnership with the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity enables mature businesses to work with experts to maintain their competitive edge in the field of advanced manufacturing.
Before I close, I would like to highlight several proposals in Governor Evers’ proposed FY 25-27 budget that build on the work WEDC is doing, including:
- $50 million in state funding for a new round of Main Street Bounceback Grants.
- $10 million for Accelerate Wisconsin to help bring more university-based research to market.
- $5 million in Advanced Manufacturing Grants.
- $5 million for rural capacity building through the Thrive Rural program.
- $5 million for the Opportunity Attraction Fund.
- And $5 million to support entrepreneurship in Wisconsin’s tribal communities.
WEDC believes these investments will help propel our Wisconsin businesses forward, and we respectfully request the committee and its members to support them.
I want to thank the committee for inviting me to speak, and it’s my pleasure to introduce my colleague, Shayna Hetzel, WEDC’s Vice President for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
