Efforts to Save Local Businesses and Increase Local Wealth Expand in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Indiana Center for Employee Ownership (INCEO) is expanding work to preserve critical local businesses by engaging minority-owned business owners in succession planning. The announcement comes as minority business ownership is increasing nationwide and the region moves to prepare for a significant number of business owners reaching retirement age over the next decade.

Under the growing initiative, INCEO plans to increase outreach to help minority business owners begin to think about or define succession plans, including potential buyers for the successful businesses they've built: their employees. Business owners will be provided with basic information about employee ownership, as well as access to resources in support of selling their business to employees.

The expanded initiative comes as part of a partnership with Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI), the national nonprofit dedicated to employee ownership expansion and research. According to a recent DAWI report, more than 80 percent of business owners nationally don't have or have not shared succession plans. This statistic highlights the urgency of succession plan education, as it comes at the same time as more than 41 thousand Indiana business owners are nearing retirement age.

This phenomenon, colloquially referred to as the "Silver Tsunami", threatens to undermine the economic stability of communities as businesses face potential closure. When legacy businesses ? longstanding businesses owned by community members ? close, people lose jobs, neighborhoods lose economic anchors, and communities lose beloved institutions.

Indiana is home to 196 employee-owned companies. These companies create wealth and retirement benefits for over 150 thousand citizens and have an average retirement benefit of 105 thousand dollars, more than 3.9 times the average Indiana 401K balance.

In addition to providing ownership opportunities for communities lacking access to capital for business purchase or startup, the new efforts aim to save businesses from closure over the next decade.

Business ownership remains unequally divided by race nationally, but minority-owned firms have been growing at a substantial pace since 1997, contributing greatly to the economic stability of their communities. Employee ownership provides an opportunity to save those successful businesses while providing a pathway to ownership for employees who would otherwise lack access to the capital needed to buy or start their own business.

About Indiana Center for Employee Ownership
The Indiana Center for Employee Ownership, Inc. (INCEO) is a non-profit working to promote better understanding of the values of employee ownership among business leaders, public officials, employees, members of the media, students, academics/academic institutions, consumers, and other persons and organizations in Indiana. www.inceo.org/ 

About Democracy at Work Institute
The Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) is a think- and do-tank working to expand democratic business ownership to communities most affected by social, economic and racial inequality, particularly low-wage workers, immigrants and communities of color. Together with the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, DAWI combines on-the-ground cooperative business expertise with a strategic view of the field in order to build strong cooperative businesses, leadership, and a movement base. www.institute.coop

Media Contact:
Richard Van Doel
317.561.1242
[email protected]

SOURCE Indiana Center for Employee Ownership