Small businesses are the backbone of Maine’s economy. With nearly 150,000 small businesses making up 99% of all businesses in our state and employing more than half of Maine’s workforce, their success is Maine’s success.
As I travel across Maine, I hear from small business owners who love what they do but are exhausted by the obstacles the state puts in their way. They describe outdated filing systems, disconnected agencies, and a maze of permits and renewals that cost time and money. They talk about wanting to hire their first employee but being intimidated by the complexity. They worry about what happens when they are ready to retire and there is no plan for what comes next.
By almost every national ranking, Maine is one of the hardest states in the country to start a business, held back by high costs, slow permitting, and outdated systems. But here’s what those rankings miss: businesses that start in Maine survive at above-average rates, outpacing the national average at the one-year and five-year marks. The problem isn’t Maine. It’s the on-ramp. We need to make it easier to launch or relocate a business here, and we need an economic strategy that builds opportunity within Maine.
As Governor, I will remove the barriers that slow small businesses down, back the entrepreneurs who are already here, and grow Maine’s economy in a way that strengthens every community in the state.
– Dr. Nirav Shah
Executive Summary
Dr. Shah’s Plan to Support Maine’s Small Businesses will:
- Make the first hire easier. To paraphrase Cat Stevens, “the first hire is the hardest.” If we can help more Mainers turn their side hustle into a growing small business by making hiring their first employee easy and seamless, they’re far more likely to grow to the point of hiring even more people.
- Build a one-stop digital business portal so every filing, permit, and renewal can be handled in one place, with one account, on one website.
- Consolidate annual business renewals into a single date and a single payment, ending the patchwork of staggered deadlines across agencies.
- Save Main Street businesses from the challenge of securing the next generation of ownership by creating support networks for young Mainers to acquire existing businesses, and funding a Maine Employee Ownership Center.
- Invest in Maine’s local food economy by building on the Local Food Fund, and more aggressively directing state funding to purchase Maine-grown and Maine-caught food for local schools.
- Support the sectors already driving growth (e.g., the blue economy, outdoor recreation, and defense) by coordinating infrastructure and smart policy, not corporate giveaways.
- Treat housing, childcare, and broadband as economic infrastructure that small businesses need to recruit, retain, and grow.
- Make Maine’s natural energy advantages work for small businesses by positioning the state as a clean energy leader and bringing down costs that are squeezing restaurants, shops, and manufacturers.
- Invest in third places, like the coffee shops, diners, libraries, and gathering spaces that hold Maine communities together. Research shows vibrant community spaces drive new business startups, support workforce retention, and combat the loneliness epidemic the Surgeon General has called a national crisis. People don’t just choose a job. They choose a community.
Make the First Hire Easier
For most small business owners, the leap from sole proprietor to employer is the hardest step. Whether it’s a side hustle being turned into a full-time job, or a full-time job turning into a growing small business, hiring the first employee means navigating payroll taxes, compliance requirements, and new liabilities. But we also know that businesses that hire one person are far more likely to hire five. If we want more jobs in Maine, we should make that first hire as straightforward as possible.
As Governor, I will:
- Create a “one-stop shop” new employer process, where the entrepreneur is offered a single intake form that gets them from concept to ‘open for business’ faster, with less bureaucracy, and more transparency about what’s legally required and what resources exist to help them.
- Expand incentives to reimburse the additional financial burden of onboarding a first employee. From payroll processing to registering with State agencies, there can be a significant amount to do before welcoming your first employee. The easier it is to hire the first employee, the faster that small business will be able to hire more, leading to even more job creation.
- Direct the Maine Department of Labor to streamline processes and reduce administrative burdens while maintaining all required worker protections.
The goal is simple: help more Mainers take their side hustle to Main Street, and make the path from one employee to five (or more!) as clear as possible.
Cut Red Tape and Modernize State Systems
Sadly, starting and running a business in Maine today means navigating a maze of disconnected state agencies.
The Secretary of State’s office relies on outdated systems. In 2026, Maine is the only state where you cannot form a business online. Starting a business means a printed form, a paper check, a trip to the post office (or a drive to Augusta), and a three-week wait. Need it faster? Pay an extra hundred dollars. That’s senseless bureaucracy in the era of email and webforms.
Departments do not efficiently share information with one another. Too many licenses, permits, and registrations live in a separate silo with a different login, a different deadline, and a different fee.
Simply put, current systems are designed for the convenience of state government, not for the people it is supposed to serve.
- We must create a unified, “one-stop shop” portal that makes it easy for anyone to access their annual licensing and permitting renewals. At the same time, we must require every state agency to accept digital forms. If you think it’s ridiculous that some state agencies still require paper forms to be printed and physically mailed to Augusta, you’d be right.
- As Governor, I will direct agencies to meet strict response time metrics – If the state can’t process your permit on time, you get your money back. Pennsylvania recently launched a similar program consisting of a money-back guarantee on 2,400+ permits and licenses. The results speak for themselves: business filings went from 14 days to 1. Nursing licenses went from months to 6 days. Doctor’s licenses went from 43 days to 5. As an experienced manager and leader of large organizations, I know that deadlines with consequences produce results.
- We will require state agencies to share data internally instead of asking businesses to re-enter the same information across separate systems. Offering easy to use permitting and licensing applications will encourage more business activity simply by making the process easier for everyone to understand, access, and keep track of. Transparency is good business, and good government.
Save Main Street Businesses Before They Disappear
Nearly 13,000 Maine businesses employing 108,000 workers are owned by baby boomers approaching retirement. Many do not have a plan for how to transition the business to the next generation, which could result in thousands of small businesses closing.
We can turn this crisis into an even bigger opportunity for our state.
As Governor, I will:
- Fund a Maine Employee Ownership Center to help business owners transition to employee ownership, cooperative models, or local buyers.
- Create support networks and resources that make it easier for young Mainers to acquire existing businesses, not just start new ones.
- Work with the Legislature to offer tax incentives that will support transitions to local ownership and help keep Maine businesses owned by Mainers.
Feed Maine Kids with Maine Food
Here’s something that should make every Mainer angry: we have a $709 million commercial fishing industry, farms and producers that generate nearly a billion dollars a year, and some of the most productive farmland and fishing waters in the country. And yet, one in five Maine children lives in a food-insecure household. That’s the highest rate of child food insecurity in New England. In Washington County, it’s more than one in four.
We are not a state that lacks food. We are a state that has failed to connect the food we produce to the people who need it most. Meanwhile, we’re losing the land that makes it all possible, with 82,000 acres of farmland falling out of production in just five years.
As Governor, I will:
- Connect Maine food to Maine kids. We must build on the early success of the Local Foods Fund by expanding the scope, improving the funding, and thinking more holistically about the impact buying and serving local food in our schools can have. School meals should prioritize Maine-grown food and Maine-caught seafood, thereby building a self-sustaining cycle where public dollars support Maine producers and nourish Maine children. We should not be importing food from other states to feed our kids while our own farmers and fishermen struggle to find buyers.
- Work with the legislature to fully fund Land for Maine’s Future to preserve the farmland and working waterfronts our food economy depends on. We can’t farm without farmland, and we can’t fish without waterfronts.
- Grow Maine’s food economy as an economic engine. Our aquaculture industry now generates more than $150 million in annual economic impact. Our seaweed sector has grown 2,100% in five years. Our oyster harvest is now worth nearly $15 million. These aren’t niche curiosities. They are a fast-growing competitive advantage we should be scaling and marketing to the world.
Support the Industries Best Poised to Drive Growth
Maine does not need to invent an economy from scratch. We need to support and accelerate the sectors that are already creating jobs and generating growth. The faster we do this, the faster we’ll be positioned for economic resilience in this turbulent time.
As Governor, I will:
- Champion women-owned business growth. Maine is a national leader, and we should be proud of our record. Maine ranks #1 among all 50 states in the percentage growth of both jobs and revenue at women-owned firms, a 74% increase in employment and a 286% increase in revenue over the past two decades. We are the only Northeastern state in the top ten for economic vitality of women-owned businesses, and among the top ten nationally for women-led startups. That growth hasn’t happened because of state policy; it has happened in spite of it. As Governor, I will build on this momentum with targeted access to capital programs and state contracting practices that open more doors for women-owned firms. Maine women are already proving they can build and scale businesses here. State government should be catching up to them, not standing in their way.
- Strengthen Maine’s defense industry. With billions of dollars in economic output and more than 19,000 jobs, this sector is one of Maine’s most important economic engines. It’s not just Bath Iron Works; it’s the 150+ small companies across the state that feed the supply chain. These businesses deserve sustained advocacy, a real workforce pipeline, and a governor who fights Washington for every contract.
- Continue supporting the blue economy. Maine has natural advantages that position us to lead. We need a coordinating hub, streamlined permitting, and investment in research to ensure Maine can compete with states like Rhode Island and California.
- Elevate outdoor recreation. Maine should accelerate the growth of our outdoor economy–an area where Maine has a natural competitive advantage. This is a $3.9 billion economy that has nearly doubled since 2012. The Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation should have a clear economic development mandate and the resources to match, measured to ensure a strong ROI for Maine people and Maine’s environment.
- Lead on clean energy as a jobs strategy. Maine already generates about 2/3 of its electricity from renewables. We have more than 16,000 clean energy workers, growing three times faster than overall employment, with rural counties benefiting most. Solar capacity has grown 15-fold since 2019. 3.2 million Americans have already relocated as climate migrants, with millions more projected in coming decades. Maine’s position as a climate haven should be a powerful economic recruitment tool. We should lean into this advantage, not ignore it.
- Leverage the University of Maine System and the Roux Institute as statewide economic engines. For example, the Roux Institute is attracting top-tier talent, research funding, and private investment to Maine, particularly in data science and life sciences. As Governor, I will partner with Maine’s higher education institutions to expand workforce pipelines across the state, connect their research directly to Maine businesses, and ensure students trained here are building their careers here.
- Invest in talent attraction through organizations already doing this work, including Live and Work in Maine, to ensure every sector of our economy, but especially our vulnerable tourism industry, has the pipeline of talent needed to sustain and grow.
Treat Housing, Childcare, and Broadband as Economic Infrastructure
78,000 people have moved to or ‘boomeranged’ back to Maine since 2020. Over the past five years, new residents have contributed millions of dollars to our economy. People are choosing Maine because of our quality of life, but they cannot start or grow their career if they cannot find housing, afford childcare, or access reliable internet.
These are not separate social policy issues. They are economic infrastructure, and small businesses depend on them.
As Governor, I will:
- Treat housing as the workforce and small business issue it is, building on the comprehensive housing plan I have already proposed.
- Expand childcare statewide. Every childcare business created solves two problems: a parent enters the workforce and an entrepreneur launches a new business.
- Deploy Maine’s $272 million in federal broadband funding with small business outcomes attached, pairing connectivity with digital business coaching and support.
- Bring energy costs down for small businesses. Maine’s commercial electricity rates are 64% above the national average, and that hits restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers hardest. States like New York offer economic development electricity rate discounts of 30-35% for businesses. Maine has no equivalent program. We should.
Invest in “Third Places”, The Community Spaces That Hold Maine Together
Sociologists call them “third places”: the spaces that aren’t home and aren’t work where community actually happens. The coffee shop where you run into a neighbor. The library where a teenager gets their first library card and their grandmother joins a book club. The diner counter, the general store, the VFW hall, the barbershop, the waterfront park. These are the “third places”of Maine’s towns, and we need more of them.
This matters for more than nostalgia. The U.S. Surgeon General has declared loneliness and social isolation a public health crisis on par with smoking and obesity, and Maine is on the front lines. We are the oldest state in the nation, among the most rural, and the least densely populated state east of the Mississippi. When the Surgeon General toured the country talking about this epidemic, he came to Maine, because our geography and demographics make the stakes especially high here.
The economic case is just as clear. Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that neighborhoods with vibrant third places see nearly 12% more new business startups. The Urban Institute has documented that rural areas with fewer gathering spaces lose access to the social and economic networks that drive opportunity. And every workforce recruiter will tell you: people don’t just choose a job, they choose a community. A town with a great coffee shop, a lively downtown, and places for families to gather on a Saturday is a town that attracts and keeps workers, especially young ones.
Third places also serve as the connective tissue for Maine’s growing remote workforce. The 78,000 people who have moved to or ‘boomeranged’ back to Maine since 2020 chose our quality of life, but a home office only goes so far. Without places to meet neighbors, exchange ideas, and feel part of something, remote workers become isolated residents who eventually leave.
As Governor, I will:
- Establish a Community Gathering Places Grant Program that provides small-scale funding to help towns invest in the spaces that bring people together, whether that’s restoring a town hall, supporting a community café, keeping a local library open on weekends, or activating an underused downtown storefront. Not every economic development project needs to be a major capital investment. Sometimes the highest-impact dollar is the one that helps a town hold onto its center.
- Direct Maine’s economic development strategy to recognize third places as community infrastructure. When we evaluate downtown revitalization, broadband deployment, or housing development, we should be asking: does this plan create places where people will actually spend time together?
- Support existing third places through the same lens we apply to other small businesses: by reducing regulatory burden, improving access to capital, and connecting entrepreneurs in hospitality and food service with the resources they need to stay open. Every time a diner closes or a general store shuts down, a community loses more than a business. It loses a gathering place.
- Partner with Maine’s libraries, which already serve as critical third places in hundreds of communities, to expand programming, hours, and spaces–especially in rural areas where the library may be the only public indoor gathering space for miles.
The towns that thrive in Maine’s future won’t just be the ones with the most jobs. They’ll be the ones where people want to be, where there’s somewhere to go on a Tuesday evening that isn’t home and isn’t a screen. That’s the kind of community people build lives around, and it’s the kind of Maine worth fighting for.
The Bottom Line
Mainers have never lacked grit. What we’ve lacked is a state government that matches it.
This plan is built on a simple conviction: when Maine makes it easier to start, grow, and pass on a business, everything else follows. Stronger schools, healthier communities, young people who can afford to stay. Maine doesn’t have to choose between its character and its prosperity. The right policies make them the same thing.
That’s the kind of Governor I pledge to be.