This Thursday, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Jason Esteves gathered a group of entrepreneurs and business leaders at The Gathering Spot for a small business roundtable focused on the pressures facing companies across the state. The discussion brought together Kashi Sehgal, founder and CEO of R etaaza, and Travis Townsend Jr., co-founder and financial partner at Townsend Lockett, LLC. Small business owners from across metro Atlanta attended the event to hear Esteves outline his vision for economic growth and support for entrepreneurs should he become governor. The conversation ranged from access to capital and the rising cost of operating a business to education, workforce development, and the barriers that prevent many companies from scaling. Esteves said his interest in hosting the discussion came from conversations with Ryan Wilson, co-founder CEO of The Gathering Spot, about the number of businesses that have recently closed across Atlanta. “Ryan and I were having a conversation one day about how many restaurants have closed in metro Atlanta in the last two years,” Esteves said. “It feels like they are closing on a weekly, almost daily basis.” For many entrepreneurs, he said, owning a business is one of the most direct paths to building wealth. “Aside from home ownership, one of the top ways to build your own wealth is through small business ownership,” Esteves said. “If we’re trying to unlock that wealth-building opportunity, then we have to make sure that we’re supporting our small business goals.” Panelists echoed the challenges entrepreneurs face, particularly when attempting to grow beyond early revenue stages. Latrice Knuckolls, founder of Evolve Works Consulting, noted that many businesses generating between $50,000 and $500,000 in revenue encounter operational barriers that stall growth. She asked what meaningful support for those entrepreneurs should look like. Esteves said entrepreneurship education should begin earlier in life. “I believe that we need to start as early as possible, and that means starting in as early as elementary middle school, making sure that we are incorporating entrepreneurship and small business ownership in our curriculum,” he said. He added that many entrepreneurs are forced to learn those lessons later in life through trial and error. “I didn’t know what it meant to be successful, because I started to make as much money as you can,” Esteves said. “That knowledge shared is just as important as everything else.” Other speakers emphasized systemic challenges that affect entrepreneurs across Georgia. Sehgal, whose company works with local agriculture supply chains, said procurement processes and access to capital can prevent smaller businesses from participating in government opportunities. “Procurement is so hard, and unlocking those procurement dollars at a state level could change the face of small towns,” she said. Townsend, a corporate attorney who represents businesses ranging from startups to major corporations, said professional service companies often lack the same policy support as product-based businesses. “You might be a fantastic SME at whatever you are doing, but the extent that you start to become an entrepreneur, that’s a whole different language,” Townsend said. Throughout the discussion, rising costs emerged as a recurring theme. Panelists pointed to increasing expenses for labor, childcare, housing and healthcare as major obstacles for small businesses attempting to hire and retain employees. Esteves argued that lowering the cost of living is critical to stabilizing the state’s business ecosystem. “The cost of living has continuously gone up, whether it is transportation, whether it is childcare, whether it is healthcare,” he said. “People are struggling.” During the conversation, Esteves also criticized federal economic policies under President Donald Trump, particularly tariffs, which he said are increasing costs for Georgia businesses. “We can’t continue to have the bully in the White House hurt our bottom line because he’s making life more expensive,” Esteves said. At one point in the discussion, he added that if elected governor, he would pursue legal action against the administration. “I’m going to sue the hell out of the Donald Trump administration,” Esteves said. When asked later how he would respond as governor to federal policies affecting Georgia businesses, Esteves reiterated that states should challenge actions that harm their economies. “When there is legal recourse, the governor should sue the Trump administration and make sure that we are holding them accountable and bringing relief to hard-working people in this state,” he said. For many in the room, the roundtable served as an opportunity to highlight the everyday realities of entrepreneurship, from navigating government bureaucracy to managing rising costs. As the event concluded, Esteves framed the conversation as part of a broader effort to rethink how Georgia supports the businesses that drive its economy. “Small businesses are what make up the backbone of our state”. The post ‘We Can’t Continue to Have the Bully in the White House’: Esteves Says at Gathering Spot Roundtable appeared first on The Atlanta Voice. ...read more read less