A top Bush administration official is in eastern Iowa this morning. U.S. Small Business Administration chief Hector Barreto is making several stops in Davenport as part of a series of visits called the “S-B-A’s Economic Growth Tour: Listening to America’s Job Creators.”Barreto will tour a small business in Davenport — Genesis Systems Group — he’ll head a business roundtable with community leaders, then a lunch with several hundred small business people. He says the objective is “to listen to them, to really find out what’s on their mind, what kind of challenges do they still have and what are some of the opportunities that they’re looking forward to.” Davenport is the fourth city of 12 nationwide Barreto is visiting on this tour. He says he’s hearing common themes in other cities. “We’re hearing a lot about the need to get access to affordable health care. That’s a big issue for a lot of small businesses.” Barreto says small business people are also concerned about issues like tort reform, capitol opportunities and what incentives like tax relief may be coming down the line. He explains why the Quad Cities area was chosen for a stop on this tour. He says 99-percent of all businesses in Davenport are small businesses and there’s opportunity for them to grow and diversify but he says “Oftentimes, they don’t know what they don’t know so they need access to the information and the programs and services the S-B-A can provide to them.” For more information, surf to “www.sba.gov”.
