Small business owners get business info at Chamber of Commerce, PDA workshop

Small business owners and entrepreneurs packed the Rayle EMC-sponsored workshop at the Fitzpatrick Hotel last week.

Local small-business owners and entrepreneurs from around the area packed the ballroom of the Fitzpatrick Hotel Thursday to get expert advice and business information.

With sponsorship by Rayle EMC, the Entrepreneur and Small Business Resource Workshop was a joint effort of the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce and the Washington-Wilkes Payroll Development Authority.

More than 50 small-business owners and interested entrepreneurs came to the lunchtime workshop, which is part of Wilkes County's application to be designated state Entrepreneur-Friendly Community. The businesses represented ranged from small start-ups to thriving companies.

To help get the word out, Chamber Executive Director Hardy and Regional Project Manager Adella Kelley have been speaking to civic groups in the area, and reaching out to the public with information on the program.

The full house Thursday showed that the effort was getting a strong response from the community, Hardy said. "You could tell there's a great need for information."

At Thursday's workshop, speakers included Rene Rosenheck from the Georgia Department of Economic Development; Debra McKenzie of UGA's Small Business Development Center; David Shellhouse of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs; Tony Greene of the Georgia Department of Economic Development; Gil Hayes of SCORE; Lloyd Watts of Georgia Tech Procurement; and Kathy Ross of the USDA.

The community-based Entrepreneur Friendly Community program is designed by Georgia Department of Economic Development's (GDEcD) Small Business & Innovation Division to help create an entrepreneur environment, and to build entrepreneur and small-business strategy into the community's overall economic development strategies.

Working the assigned regional project managers, Hardy said the program will take a community through proven methods designed to establish an entrepreneur support program, help them better understand their existing entrepreneur environment, and develop sustainable, effective local strategies.

"We've got to do everything we can to help the small businesses of Wilkes County," Hardy said, "This is what the Chamber of Commerce and the Payroll Development Authority are all about."

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