![\"Karen](\"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/picture-172.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\tOn Tuesday, I was in Cleveland with President Obama, a large contingent of his Cabinet, and about 150 small business owners. The President opened the day by telling the<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
small business owners that the goal was \u201cto hear from you, to gain your counsel, and to talk about how America can help you succeed so that you can keep helping America succeed.\u201d <\/p>\n
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\tIn my breakout session on Entrepreneurship, we heard from 25 small business owners. The President stopped by and had the chance to talk with a barbecue restaurant owner, a portable microwave manufacturer, a woman-owned construction company, and others.<\/p>\n
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\tSeveral topics came up. We talked about how access to capital is still a big problem for too many entrepreneurs and small business owners. We discussed the importance of the small business tax cuts that the President has already signed into law. We talked about promoting more high-growth entrepreneurship through efforts like Startup America<\/a>. And we discussed ways to identify and remove barriers to entrepreneurship, including a new series of roundtables in entrepreneurial communities<\/a> that will be kicked off next week in Durham, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
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\tWe need to do everything we can to support those small business owners \u2013 and others across America \u2013 because they\u2019re the ones that are working every day to out-innovate, out-build, and out-compete the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
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\tMoving forward, we\u2019ll continue to support regional economies like Northeast Ohio as they work to create good jobs. The SBA, for example, has helped support a clustering effort<\/a> led by a local high-tech economic development organization called NorTech, which the President discussed in his closing remarks. And we\u2019re also expanding a successful and intensive entrepreneur training program<\/a> to nearby Youngstown, Ohio.<\/p>\n
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\tAnd all of us throughout the Administration will continue to listen to the needs of entrepreneurs and small business owners, using their feedback and insights to ensure that we\u2019re supporting them as they grow our economy and create jobs.
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