–  In St. Louis, a participant stated that demand for technical assistance is up 150 percent at Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs). Some of this demand stems from increased interest in entrepreneurship among recently unemployed or underemployed individuals.
[8] Second, it has become clear how much global production relies on critical raw materials sourced from just a few countries – an arrangement that can quickly become a vulnerability when geopolitics change and countries with different strategic goals emerge as more risky trading partners.