News

Local resources for Michigan entrepreneurs – Does your community have similar efforts?

* Small Business Certification Program: Provides information about seeking contracts with major corporations and other customers.

* Entrepreneur Roundtable: Provides peer groups of eight to 10 noncompeting members to discuss and share common business problems.

* Women’s Business Development Center: Helps women-owned businesses get certified and offers counseling.

* Small Business Resource Group: Representatives from several local assistance agencies meet monthly to compare notes on services and where there may be gaps.

* Service Corps. of Retired Executives, or SCORE: Retired business executives offer business workshops and one-on-one counseling.

* Kalamazoo Public Library and Portage District Library: Offer basic business-research classes.

* Northside Economic Potential Group: Offers a 15-week "New Entrepreneur" class and "microloans" of up to $1,000.

* Southwest Michigan Technical Assistance Center: Helps established businesses get government contracts.

* SouthWest Michigan First: Provides access to venture-capital and angel investors, access to big pharmaceutical and higher-education partnerships.

* Neighborhood and Economic Development Department, city of Kalamazoo: Offers help with site selection, tax-abatement applications, environmental assessments and the site-plan-review process; also offers gap financing, a brownfield-redevelopment program and renaissance zones.

* Kalamazoo Adult and Community Education: Online classes in starting a small business.

* Kalamazoo College’s Small Business Technology Development Center: Offers business counseling and training for new and existing businesses in a nine-county area.

© 2005 Kalamazoo. Used with permission

Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.