Meeting to help small business

By Marilee Johnson, South Platte Sentinal News Editor

Sterling will be the site of one of several town hall meetings by the Governor’s Small Business Advisory Council being held throughout the state. Information from the meetings will be shared with the Governor’s Office.

The Sterling “Solution Session” will be held at Northeastern Junior College (NJC), Hays Student Center Room 230, from 9:30-11:30 a.m., on Thurs., Aug. 26. (RSVP to 970-352-3661 before Aug. 23.)

The town hall meeting is part of a series of meetings hosted by the Colorado Small Business Development Network.

“We are encouraging business owners, city and county officials, financial institutions and economic development to provide their experiences and ideas on how to develop solutions for barriers to success for small business owners,” said Heidi Zajic Eckland, Sterling Small Business Counselor.

Eckland works in the Sterling office for the Northeast-East Central Colorado Small Business Development Center, a resource center for small businesses in the northeast quadrant of the state. Free business assistance and information are available to all small businesses, whether existing or new.

Currently, Eckland serves the Sterling area community as a business counselor one day per week and additional resources are available if necessary. According to Eckland, “The program’s mission is to foster successful start-up of new businesses as well as growth and development of new and existing businesses through services provided.”

The services provided are to help small businesses maximize their potential through three areas of focus: Free business counseling, education through seminars and webinars and assistance in obtaining capital. Support available to business owners includes: Access to small business resources and information through the state and national Small Business Development Center network; staff experience in starting, running and growing small business; staff experience in counseling small businesses in a variety of industries and stages of business; and strong support for clients and SBDC activities from local governments and private institutions.

The purpose of the town hall meeting next week is to brainstorm on solutions of barriers to success for small businesses owners. “Some of the barriers that many business owners are experiencing are due to the current financial and legislative climate,” Eckland said. “Revenues are down and access to capital is very difficult.” She said the solutions to look at may include workforce readiness and “How the SBDC can help in these and other areas for both new and existing businesses.” She can be reached at 520-7357.

Filed under: In The News by LCEDC