Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 3 M AY 1 3 , 2 0 2 4 V I E W P O I N T S 1 bernsteinshur.com Meet Nelson. Whether it's family succession planning, estate planning, or federal or state tax planning, Nelson is ready with thoughtful, practical, and effective guidance. We're attorneys. But we're people first. Nelson A. Toner, Attorney and Shareholder From the Editor T he U.S. Small Business Administration defines a small business as having fewer than 500 employees. Of course, in Maine, a company with more than a couple of hundred employees is considered a major employer. (At Mainebiz, we don't have a hard-and-fast definition, but my sense is that the vast majority of small businesses in Maine operate with fewer than 25 employees.) e SBA's 2022 Small Business Economic Profile for Maine indicates that small businesses — by the SBA's definition — make up 99.2% of the busi- nesses here. Some other facts of note: By the SBA's count, Maine has 151,212 small businesses. Construction, real estate, service trades and retail are the top industries among small businesses. Banks made $590.7 million in loans of $100,000 or less to companies with less than $1 million in annual revenue. Small businesses exported goods worth $1.1 bil- lion from Maine in 2020, just over half the total exports that year. Women made up 48.6% of small business workers and made up 40.5% of owners. Veterans made up 6.9% of small business workers and owned 9.4% of businesses. Racial minorities made up 3.8% of small business workers and owned 2.6% of businesses. Peter Van Allen pvanallen@mainebiz.biz Featured @ Mainebiz.biz For a daily digest of Maine's top business news, sign up for the Mainebiz Daily Report at mainebiz.biz/enews Get all the latest business news at Mainebiz.biz or by subscribing to the Daily Report and Real Estate Insider. Here is the top Mainebiz content from April 22 to May 6: 1. TD Bank to close two branches in Maine this summer 2. While Maine is still known for lobster and potatoes, three new industries are rising 3. How do you feel about the name of Maine's new pro soccer team, the Portland Hearts of Pine? (Poll question) 4. Breeze Airways adds another destination from Portland International Jetport 5. On the Record: Bakers move business from Portland to suburb for parking, convenience 6. Bangor Savings beefs up its leadership team 7. Joan Fortin will step down as CEO of Portland law firm Bernstein Shur 8. Construction begins on $27M affordable housing project in Portland's Libbytown 9. Rock Row developer buys Westbrook office building to complement pending medical campus 10. Portland pro soccer team unveils name and branding, starts selling merch F I L E P H O T O / W I L L I A M H A L L Small business is the backbone of Maine's economy T O T H E E D I T O R Unequal credit I was just reading through the April 29 30th anni- versary issue of Mainebiz, and loved seeing all the Maine news milestones, looking back 30 years, wow! While I appreciated the mention of the Maine's historic marriage victory in 2012 (I was a proud volunteer), it would have been more accurate for EqualityMaine, not the Human Rights Commission, whose logo was featured, to be deservingly rec- FROM THE ART DIRECTOR: As someone interested in both equal rights and logos, this is a mistake that should not have escaped me and I regret the error! — Matt Selva ognized. The effort included years and years of hard work, which included thousands of conversations with Mainers in every county. The result was becom- ing the first state in the country to vote for marriage equality in 2012. — Gia Drew Executive director EqualityMaine CORRECTIONS: In the Work for ME edition of May 6, on Page 10, the man in the photo was misidentified. It should have noted that he is Toby Dewhurst, CEO of Kelson Marine.

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