If your company could use some assistance reaching your growth targets and making your business vision a reality, the Alabama Small Business Development Center’s (SBDC) signature program, GrowSmart, could help.
Michael Brooks, associate director of the Alabama SBDC, stresses that the program is not a lecture or ‘death by PowerPoint,’ but a series of sessions where you work on your business. GrowSmart is designed to equip small businesses with the tools and strategies needed to reach their goals and align their actions with the steps needed to realize their vision. This includes a step-by-step evaluation of your business and markets and an interactive forum that builds a community of small business owners and facilitates sharing of best practices.
The five-module program is held one day per week over five weeks and covers planning for growth; marketing research, planning, and implementation; leadership and management; financial analysis, tools, and resources; and operations and implementing your plan. The cost is $795 total, and full and partial scholarships are available to some companies, awarded at the discretion of sponsor Alabama Power’s Supplier Diversity team. Business owners are eligible if their companies have at least two years of successful operation and annual revenues of $300,000 or more (up to $15 million).
Dates and locations for 2018 GrowSmart classes have not been finalized yet, but for more information and to apply, visit http://asbdc.org/growsmart/.
