Detroit City Wire

Brian Calley, president of the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM), recently appeared on WJR’s "The Frank Beckmann Show" to discuss the loss of small businesses due to the COVID-19 financial crisis.

Calley told host Chris Renwick that the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program has been a “huge help,” but that surveys of SBAM members have shown that one in seven question whether they will be able to remain in business.

But that number may actually underrepresent the impact.

“Startup companies don’t usually join a statewide association, so these are more mature businesses that would be past that startup phase,” he told Renwick. “And so that’s a really big potential failure rate, and we need all hands on deck to make sure that that does not come true.”

About 50% of Michigan workers are employed by small businesses, so the loss of those businesses could have an “enormous” impact on the economy, Calley told Renwick. 

“But they’re also a part of the fabric of the community,” Calley said.

From sponsoring Little League teams to other ways small businesses directly impact the places where they are located, Calley said the effect of those businesses reaches beyond the outright financial figures.

“So there’s some urgency here,” he told Renwick.

The SBAM has created policy recommendations they believe will assist in preserving Michigan’s small businesses. Calley told Renwick that the top priority is addressing the liability small businesses face in relation to COVID-19 restrictions.

“There are all kinds of rules out there. If somebody has a good-faith effort to follow those rules and do a good job with it, then there should be some sort of liability protection,” he told Renwick. 

Additionally, Calley said that the state and federal governments need to take steps to keep the unemployment system solvent and not overburden small businesses with costs that make reopening financially prohibitive.