Milton Stewart: Missionary for small business;Forecast: Software;

              Milton Stewart *—b
missionaru
for
small
Business
It is a balmy afternoon, and a light breeze makes
this mid-winter Sunday in San Antonio ideal.
Milton Stewart, his wife Joan, and a friend are
strolling along the famed River Walk after a tour of
the Alamo. Stewart stops for a "crispy dog," a frank­furter
wrapped in a taco shell. At $1.50 it's a substan­tial
tide-me-over, and Stewart bites into it with
obvious relish. "Vknow," he says, "this would be a
terrific franchise item."
An odd way to praise a local delicacy? Not for Milt
Stewart, whose thoughts—not to mention activities—
rarely stray from small business. An attorney with
credentials as economist, journalist, investment
banker, and White House advisor—he was named by
President Carter in 1979 as first chief counsel for
advocacy of the Small Business Administration-
Stewart has devoted more than 39 years to a fervent,
relentless small-business advocacy.
Those who call Milt Stewart the Billy Graham of
small business are not exaggerating a great deal.
While he speaks for all small business, Stewart's
consuming passion is putting America back at the
top of the high-technology heap, and he sees entrepre­neurs
of the type that pioneered Boston's Route 128
and California's Silicon Valley as the people to put
us there.
As steps in this direction, he counts the signing by
President Reagan in July 1982 of the Small Business
Innovation Development Act, with its accompanying
Small Business Innovative Research program (SBIR),
and Stewart's own Small Business High Technology
Institute (SBHTI), of which he is founder and presi­dent.
The purpose of the SHBTI is to show high-tech
entrepreneurs how to make the most of the govern­ment's
new small-business initiatives—and, frankly, to
give American high-technology entrepreneurs a shot
at their fair share of government contracts. Stewart
also feels that SBHTI will help the U.S. respond better
to foreign competition.
Earlier that Sunday in San Antonio, he had
addressed a convention of Small Business United, a
nationwide confederation of small-business operators.
"There is no expansion without small business," he
told about 100 entrepreneurs in fields ranging from
microchips to molding. A Billy-Graham-style orator
he isn't. Short and stocky, and dressed in the string tie
and Indian jewelry which, together, are the South-west's
equivalent of the three-piece suit, Milt Stewart
speaks evenly and without notes, an elbow resting on
the lectern. "Small business kept the economy afloat
during the recession," he continued. "While the
Fortune 500 was reducing employment by 600,000,
small business created more than half of America's
new jobs." After the luncheon, about half the audience
converges on Stewart, bombarding him with
questions which he fields patiently and expertly.
The afternoon's tour of San Antonio is a respite in
an otherwise crammed schedule. The next day,
Monday, the International Franchise Association is to
give its first Free Enterprise award to Stewart at its
convention in New Orleans. Then, following a brief
stopover at his home in Phoenix, Stewart will leave
for London, where he is to join European business
and economic leaders for the launching of the
European Economic Community's European Year of
Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (EYSME). Like
today, Stewart will be accompanied by his wife Joan,
a cheerful, attentive woman who keeps him