After a five-year decline in entrepreneurial startups here, Westchester County officials expect a turnaround this year driven by job losses in the recession and a federal stimulus package expected to channel money into jobs-creating public infrastructure projects.
“Westchester residents who have lost their jobs and are concerned that they will not gain a secure position might opt for self-employment,” said County Clerk Timothy C. Idoni. The clerk”™s office in White Plains processes the business certificates required of individuals conducting any business in the county under a name other than their own and who are not a corporation, limited partnership or a limited liability company.
In December, a café in Chappaqua, a day care operation in Mamaroneck and a piano studio in Scarsdale were among more than 250 small businesses to file certificates. But those filings have steadily declined in the county in recent years.
In 2004, 4,727 such businesses were started. In 2005, their number dropped to 4,586, a 3 percent decrease. In 2006, there were 4,135 business filings, a 10 percent decrease from the previous year. In 2007, 4,035 new businesses filed, a 2 percent drop. In 2008, the 3,712 business filings amounted to an 8 percent dip from the prior year. From the 2004 peak to last year, the number of business startups dropped 21 percent.   Â
Regarding the reason for the decline, “I think it”™s just a gradual slowing of the economy and people not willing to take risks,” Idoni said.
The county clerk said his office projects approximately 4,000 business filings this year. With President Barack Obama”™s plan to rebuild public infrastructure and so stimulate the economy, “I think you”™re going to see a lot more subcontracting businesses starting up, and hopefully a lot of minority- and women-owned businesses,” Idoni said.
He expects the business filings to increase this winter “as it becomes clearer as to where the (federal) money will be going. We”™re going to wait and see for the next couple of weeks and hopefully things will begin to pick up.”
At the Westchester Small Business Development Center, the Suffern-based agency serving Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, the recession has brought an increase in small business startups and inquiries about starting a business, said director Thomas Morley. “We always see an increase in consulting during these times,”™ he said.
Morley said about one-third of the callers actually do start a business, while the others “decide that the risks are a little too much at this point.”
Morley said professionals who received good severance packages in a layoff or termination have started “some fairly successful businesses” in the region, especially in technological fields such as computer software writing. “The majority of these individuals tend to be reasonably successful because they do tend to be very good at bringing all of their skills to the new venture,” he said.
Morley noted the state Labor Department has a Self-Employment Assistance Program that allows qualifying laid-off workers to continue receiving unemployment benefits while starting a business. The eligible entrepreneurs are deemed likely to exhaust their full unemployment benefits while searching for work in their fields.
“Being an entrepreneur is good, it”™s challenging, it”™s rewarding,” said Morley. “It does come with a lot of risks. It”™s something that in challenging economic times, people should consider.”
