Training entrepreneurs to save cities
In the midst of a struggling economy, the Small Business Administration is hoping to create jobs and generate wealth in hard-hit urban communities by boosting small-business growth through its Emerging 200 initiative.
The six-month program, which launched last year and began its second session a month ago, aims to provide training to small-business owners in 15 major metropolitan areas that have experienced flat or negative job growth rates in recent years. Initially intended to train 200 entrepreneurs per session, the program has attracted enough interest that around 215 companies have been accepted for 2009.
The project’s goal is to provide talented entrepreneurs with the skills and contacts they need to grow their companies and create more jobs in their communities.
"We know that small business can play a role in economic recovery," said Jack Bienko, the SBA’s deputy director for entrepreneurship education.
Each participating E200 business must be headquartered in an inner city, generate $400,000 or more in annual revenue, and be at least three years old. The group’s business owners attend classes every other week, which are hosted by officials from local SBA branches or by partner organizations such as chambers of commerce. On the off weeks, the attendees gather for peer-group sessions, at which smaller groups of four or five participants collaborate on class homework and discuss the ups and downs that their businesses face.
At the end of the six-month program, E200 participants walk away with a written, three-year growth plan - a helpful document to have handy for entrepreneurs looking for business loans or investors.
Drafting such a plan helped Yashoda Naidoo, owner of Annapurna’s World Vegetarian Caf