Stalling innovation hurts businesspeople

Nov. 19 was Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, an opportunity to celebrate women-founded businesses and to ensure our policies make entrepreneurship increasingly accessible to women across Chicagoland.

Technology is at the heart of entrepreneurship. When I founded my digital marketing business, Digital Vision Enterprises, in 2016, I had access to a wealth of resources that made business ownership both possible and affordable. Tools like website builders, email marketing platforms, and geo-targeted advertising that were once cost prohibitive were widely accessible and key to getting my business off the ground.

Thanks to ongoing innovation in the digital space, I’m able to connect with my target audience in meaningful, authentic ways through platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, growing my reach across the Chicago area — and the Midwest — every year. As any entrepreneur will tell you, consistent growth and meeting people where they are — which is most often online — are a fundamental part of sustained success.

From this vantage point, it’s disheartening that there are policies circulating in Washington that would undermine innovation and hamper entrepreneurs’ ability to access these online platforms easily and affordably. Policies that disincentivize innovation ultimately disincentivize entrepreneurs from pursuing business opportunities. I know we can do better for our women entrepreneurs.

As we look ahead, I hope our lawmakers, especially those from the Illinois delegation, will consider the ways in which innovation fuels entrepreneurship and work to advance technology — not overregulate it — through commonsense policies that promote a strong, thriving community of entrepreneurs.

Tenille Jackson

Bolingbrook