Get Started: New businesses want to grow, struggle to borrow

SMALL BUSINESS STATUS REPORT

While startup businesses are more likely to add jobs than older, more established companies, more than half struggle to get credit that will help them grow.

That's the finding of a report released last week by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which analyzed the results of a survey of business owners across the country. The report found that 43 percent of startups, companies 5 years old and under, were likely to add jobs and increase their revenues, compared with 22 percent of older businesses.

But 58 percent of companies 2 years old and under reported they had a difficult time getting credit, and 53 percent of companies 3 to 5 years old also had problems. That compares with 39 percent of older businesses. Nearly 70 percent who did get financing didn't get all that they needed, compared to 54 percent of older enterprises. The most often-cited reason for not getting enough money: an insufficient credit history, a problem inherent in being a young company.

The survey shows that little has changed for small businesses since the Great Recession, which officially ended eight years ago. While owners are an optimistic lot, many find that banks aren't willing to take a chance on a young business without a proven track record. The restrictions put on banks as part of the Dodd-Frank bill have made already wary banks even more cautious about lending to newer businesses. The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress want to change Dodd-Frank, which became law following the financial crisis.

WIND ENERGY

While wind power is still a small factor in U.S. energy production, it is gaining momentum, according to an Energy Department report released last week. With many small businesses interested in alternative forms of energy — and some companies and farms generating their own wind power — the wind industry is expected to continue its growth. Some facts from the report:

—The country added more than 8,200 megawatts of wind power capacity in 2016, more than a quarter of the new energy capacity additions in the U.S. and in third place behind solar energy and natural gas. The nation's wind power can generate more than 82 gigawatts a year.

—The U.S. ranked second among countries around the world in adding wind power capacity, behind China.

—Forty states and Puerto Rico have wind energy projects that considered utility scale, or large enough to generate 10 megawatts or more of electricity. Texas, the state with the biggest wind energy capabilities, doubled its capacity to 20,320 megawatts in 2016 from 2010's 10,089.

— The number of jobs related to wind power development rose 32 percent from 2015, to 101,738.

WHAT A WEBSITE NEEDS

Small company owners can learn about the essential elements that every business website needs at an online seminar sponsored by SCORE, the organization that counsels business owners for free. It will be held Thursday, Aug. 17 at 1 p.m. Eastern time. You can learn more and register at http://bit.ly/2fz1BhW .

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Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com/search/joyce%20rosenberg