National Entrepreneurship Month, 2012

Proclamation 8899 of November 1, 2012

National Entrepreneurship Month, 2012

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

America is known around the world as a country that
empowers the inventor and the innovator. Ours is a
Nation where men and women can take a chance on a
dream--where they can take an idea that starts around a
kitchen table or in a garage and turn it into a new
business or a new industry. During National
Entrepreneurship Month, we celebrate the hard work,
ingenuity, and courage of our thinkers, doers, and
makers.

Because the new businesses created by entrepreneurs are
responsible for most of the new jobs in our country,
helping them succeed is essential to helping our
economy grow. That is why my Administration has fought
tirelessly to invest in entrepreneurs and small
businesses so they can do what they do best--take
risks, develop new ideas, grow businesses, and create
new jobs. To help them expand and hire, I have signed
18 tax cuts for small businesses into law. Last year,
my Administration launched the Startup America
initiative to help connect innovators to funding and
mentorship, cut through red tape, speed up innovation,
and get their ventures off the ground faster. Alongside
it, leaders in the private sector launched the Startup
America Partnership, which has made over $1 billion in
business services available to a national network that
will serve tens of thousands of startups over the next
3 years. I also directed Federal agencies to streamline
processes for establishing public-private research
partnerships, small business research and development
grants, and university-startup collaborations. And we
launched BusinessUSA, a virtual one-stop shop that
helps businesses--large and small--access the full
range of Federal resources they need at every stage of
their development.

My Administration has continued to build on that
progress in 2012. Earlier this year, I signed the
Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law,
which is making it easier for innovative companies to
go public and expand their workforce. For the first
time, the law will also allow ordinary Americans to go
online and invest in the startups and small businesses
they believe in through crowdfunding platforms. We have
also updated regulations to make it easier for
foundations to invest in businesses pursuing charitable
purposes and stronger communities. In August, we
launched the Presidential Innovation Fellows program to
bring top innovators outside of Government together
with top innovators inside Government; release Federal
data that is being used to develop new products,
services, and businesses; make it easier for startup
entrepreneurs to compete for Government contracts;
transform the way citizens access Government
information and services; and save taxpayers money. In
addition, thousands of American entrepreneurs and
inventors are helping Federal agencies solve tough
problems at www.Challenge.gov. And, as part of the
Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act I signed
in February, we have bolstered Self-Employment
Assistance programs that allow States to empower
unemployed workers to start their own businesses.

As long as America's daring entrepreneurs are taking
risks and putting themselves behind new ideas and
innovations, the Federal Government will serve as a
partner to support their endeavors and catalyze their
success.

This month, and during Global Entrepreneurship Week,
let us renew the spirit of innovation that has fueled
more than two centuries of American progress and
promises to drive us in the years to come.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim November 2012 as
National Entrepreneurship Month. I call upon all
Americans to commemorate this month with appropriate
programs and activities, and to celebrate November 16,
2012, as National Entrepreneurs' Day.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
first day of November, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.