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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Tuesday night’s Black Entrepreneur Exchange event was aimed at getting small businesses the boost they need.
When it comes to programs that provide information and funding to Black entrepreneurs, Grand Rapids can be a lucrative city.
“There is absolutely no cost to working with us,” explained regional director Ed Garner. West Michigan Small Business Development Center.
Whether you’re looking to start a business or grow your business, West Michigan SBDC has a team ready to meet your needs. SBDC does three main things for companies: First of all, it’s consulting.
“This is a statewide network, so you have access to any consultant in the network, so if you have a question you can reach out to someone across the state to get an answer,” Garner said.
Second, SBDCs focus on market research.
“We’re at a university called Grand Valley State University, so we hire graduate students. We use them to provide free market research that large companies use to make business decisions. We can provide that,” Garner said.
Third, it helps with education and training.
“We’re doing a lot of webinars. We’re doing in-person training, and we’re going to have business fairs and things like that again this year,” Garner said.
Black businesses have been hardest hit during the pandemic, and many are still struggling. Historically disenfranchised Black-owned businesses also need resources.
“Black-owned businesses also face higher barriers when it comes to finding loans, loan products and grants. We don’t have a lot of grants to share at this time, but there are products available for small businesses,” Garner explained. Did.
Local resources include: Black businesses in the Grand Rapids area and start garden.
“We always say there are no bad ideas and the market is not saturated. There’s always room for everyone to participate, but why does your idea have an impact and why does your idea get 5,000 or 20,000 people?” You must be able to clearly explain why you’re worth it. We award $5,000 in monthly 5×5 pitch contest grants. This month we celebrate Black History Month. We partnered with Black businesses in the Grand Rapids area,” said board member Jorge Gonzalez. start garden.
“So tonight we had our first ‘GRABB and Go’ of the year. Our GRABB and Go is a meeting for Black-owned businesses that also has a workshop component. Well, tonight’s workshop was about financial statements. Our speaker, Mariel Harmon, was talking about how accounting is the future of business,” said Jamiel Robinson, the company’s president and CEO. Black businesses in the Grand Rapids area.
Tuesday night’s mixer is one of many events and resources in Grand Rapids to empower and support Black businesses with funding and information.
“You can come to SBDC at any time and we will help you develop a pitch deck, pitch program, and process to win whatever pitch competition is out there,” Garner said. .
“We are having a black business meet-and-greet before the pitch competition next week,” Robinson said. “So, definitely come out. It’s going to be us at GRABB, Northern Initiatives and a few other entrepreneurial systems that will be providing resources for businesses here. And Start Garden is going to have a monthly pitch contest. So even if you can’t participate this month, you can still participate next month.”
next 5×5 competition The event sponsored by GRABB will be held at Start Garden on February 27th from 5pm.
There is also. National Black Business Pitch Contest Open until June.
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