Fertile small business soil in the Mat-Su

There are many reasons to love living in the Valley: wide open spaces, big-city amenities with small-town charm, farm-fresh produce and, of course, the best fishing and hunting in the world right out your back door.

Another reason to love the Valley is our community’s affinity for small businesses. Organizations such as local chambers of commerce, Alaska Small Business Development Center, U.S. Small Business Administration and Mat-Su Business Alliance are tremendous resources to help you start or grow your business in the Valley.

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy and the backbone of our Alaska economy. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small business provides jobs for more than 130,000 Alaskans — that’s 52 percent of all private-sector jobs in the state.

If you love the Valley as much I and want to see your children raise their children here, we need to support local small businesses and ensure we make it easy to do business here.

Every three months, Wells Fargo sponsors a Gallup survey to take the pulse on small business sentiment across the country.

In the last five years coming out of the economic downturn, the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index shows an up-and-down motion, reflecting uncertain times. We’re back in positive territory, but it’s nowhere near the optimism scores we saw 10 years ago.

Our latest index shows gradual improvement. The recovery from the “Great Recession” is slow and cautious, yet it is happening. The index is up 16 points since January.

It’s not clear where index scores are headed next. The national unemployment rate of 7.4 percent remains high, yet it’s the lowest point in four years. The average price of gas is about $3.61 a gallon, certainly higher than 10 years ago; however, it’s down from record highs. Many other economic indicators, from retail spending to housing prices, show improvement, but there’s no clear sign that confidence will return to pre-recession levels.

So how are Valley businesses felling about the local economy? What are our opportunities for growth? Here’s my take:

Q: How are business owners in the Valley feeling about the local and statewide economy?

A: Local business owners express cautious optimism. Those in oil and gas support industries see new opportunities on the horizon and our population continues to grow, which drives our steady housing market.

Q: What industries are experiencing growth in the Valley? What is driving growth?

A: The health care industry is really leading the charge. Our population growth has brought much-needed specialty care and new family practices. Valley residents will commute to Anchorage less and less as health care services continue to expand.

Q: How is the summer construction season shaping up? How is the housing market impacting local business activity?

A: 2013 has been a nice, steady construction season with an anticipated 1 percent to 2 percent growth rate. This is again attributed to the steady influx of new residents in the Mat-Su.

Q: What is the appetite for financing new business ventures in the Valley?

A: Alaska banks are looking to make every good loan we can. Government agencies such as the U.S. Small Business Administration and USDA Rural Development can help start-ups that may not qualify for traditional bank financing. With the growth in the medical field, we have specialty groups — such as Practice Finance for dentists and doctors and Wells Fargo Equipment Finance — who are experts in financing construction equipment.

Q: How can we promote a healthy small business climate in the Valley?

A: Through proper planning and management of our resources, collaboration between the private and public sectors and strong community involvement, the Valley will remain a great place to seed and grow a small business.

Paul Beer is Mat-Su Business Banking manager for Wells Fargo Bank. He can be reached at 376-6604. or paul.r.beer@wellsfargo.com.