MAY'S TRISTATE TALKING NEWS - A SNAPSHOT FROM AROUND THE REGION

A SPECIAL FEATURE STORY FROM AROUND THE WORLD!

INTERNATIONAL TRADE IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO SMALL BUSINESSES – HERE’S WHY … “International trade is actually incredibly important to small businesses. It is a little-known fact, but 98 percent of all U.S. exporters are small firms. Nearly 300,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are exporting to foreign markets every day; those companies support around four million American jobs as a result.” SOURCE: CLICK HERE

A SNAPSHOT OF WHAT’S HAPPENING NATIONALLY!

THE LENDING GAP NARROWS FOR WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS, BUT IT’S STILL 31% LESS THAN FOR MEN: Women-owned businesses continue to be a growth engine for the U.S. economy, and recent data shows their access to capital is an indicator of the phenomenon. The number of women-owned businesses that applied for funding in 2018 increased by 13 percent, according to an annual study of women-owned companies by Biz2Credit, a leading online credit marketplace for small companies… SOURCE: CLICK HERE

YOUR MAY 2019 NEWS BULLETIN BRIEF FROM THE…

TENNESSEE

TENNESSEE BUSINESS BAROMETER: OUTLOOK BRIGHTENS AMID ‘STEADILY IMPROVING ECONOMY’: Tennessee business leaders have a more positive economic outlook this spring despite concerns about the Mueller report and finding qualified workers, according to the latest Tennessee Business Barometer by MTSU’s Jones College of Business.

SOURCE: CLICK HERE

NFL DRAFT SETS VIEWERSHIP ATTENDANCE RECORDS; OVER 47.5M WATCHED: Nashville set new records for television and streaming viewership

and live attendance for the NFL Draft. A combined 47.5 million viewers watched the draft over its three days last week.

SOURCE: CLICK HERE

KENTUCKY

GM ADDS 400 JOBS IN KENTUCKY TO HELP BUILD A RADICAL NEW CORVETTE: General Motors is planning to build a wild new version of the

Corvette – and it plans to hire hundreds of new workers to get the job done.

The Chevrolet Corvette, known as “America’s sports car,” has been made exclusively at GM’s factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for almost four decades.

SOURCE: CLICK HERE

RUSSIAN ALUMINUM GIANT TO PUT $200 MILLION INTO KENTUCKY’S BRAIDY INDUSTRIES:Braidy Industries has secured $200 million in funding for its planned aluminum rolling mill in Ashland, Ky., thanks to an investment from Russian aluminum giant United Company Rusal PLC. Rusal will become Braidy Industries’ “exclusive supplier,” providing $500 million in prime aluminum annually to the Kentucky rolling mill for 10 years, the companies

said.

SOURCE: CLICK HERE

WEST VIRGINIA

WALMART TO UPDATE BARBOURVILLE STORE AS PART OF $31M INVESTMENT IN WV: Walmart announced Wednesday plans to spend an estimated $31.9 million this year in West Virginia through the remodeling of six stores, including its Barboursville location, as well as the launch and continued expansion of several customer-focused innovations.

SOURCE: CLICK HERE

POLITIFACT: SMALL BUSINESS A BIG DEAL FOR WV ECONOMY:

How big a deal are small businesses in West Virginia? Pretty big, according to a recent article in WVNews. The article, published March 30, quoted Nikki Bowmar, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration, saying that “there are approximately 114,391 small businesses in West Virginia.

SOURCE: CLICK HERE

NO LIMITS … JUST OPPORTUNITIES!