Karen Mills, head of Small Business Administration to headline Tester’s next jobs workshop in Missoula, Montana on Feb. 21

A national leader in small business and job creation will headline next month’s Small Business Opportunity Workshop in Missoula http://www.tester.senate.gov/workshop , U.S. Senator Jon Tester announced today.

Karen Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, will give a keynote talk at the event. Tester’s February 21 small business workshop will focus on helping Montana women get a jump-start on opening their own small business and creating jobs.

Mills will speak about the importance of supporting small businesses to spur the economy and their role in job creation. As an investor and owner, Mills helped several small manufacturers improve their competitiveness and ultimately survive the downturn of the early 1990s.

Founded in 1953, the Small Business Administration offers assistance to Americans to start, build and grow their businesses, and also works to protect small business interests.

Tester’s event, at the University Center at The University of Montana, will also feature a discussion with some of Montana’s leading female small business owners and highlight avenues women can take to get their business up-and-running. It will be his tenth Small Business Opportunity Workshop.

Tester’s workshop kicks off at 8 a.m. and is free and open to the public. Montanans interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP at http://www.tester.senate.gov/workshop.

Tester’s Missoula workshop will be modeled on Tester’s successful women’s small business workshop in Billings last July. And the Missoula event comes on the heels of Tester’s Butte workshop in October that focused on helping Montana businesses find and secure contracting opportunities.

More than 1,800 Montana companies and individuals have attended Tester’s nine previous small business workshops in Great Falls, Bozeman, Kalispell, Billings, Butte and Missoula.