It will change how you think about
both financial innovation
and small business.
Laurence H. Summers
It will change how you think about
Fintech has been critical to the economic
resilience of small businesses
In a new podcast, Fintech, Failure and Small Firms, hosted by the United Kingdom’s Federation of Small Business, Karen Mills discusses how fintech was a critical lifeline for small businesses in the United States and the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic and the years since. Mills, drawing on research from the second edition of her book Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream, speaks to the ways fintech platforms were key to economic resilience during the pandemic, creating a “v-shaped recovery” rather than a slow, painful “u-shaped recovery” as was the case coming out of the 2009 financial crises. Mills also discusses the prospects and promises artificial intelligence (AI) is driving in continuing to innovate the small business lending sector and how banks and non-banks alike are removing barriers to accessing capital to grow and create jobs.
Karen G. Mills is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Business School and a leading authority on U.S. competitiveness, entrepreneurship and innovation. She was a member of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, serving as the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration from 2009 to 2013, and is an expert on the economic health and well-being of the nation’s small businesses. She is the author of the book Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream.
