Tennessee Program is Big Friend to Small Business
Published Jul 15, 2009
Michelle Proctor is the state’s Business Enterprise Resources Office director.
Entrepreneurship is a booming business in Tennessee.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Index of Entrepreneurial Activity – a leading indicator of new U.S. business creation – ranked Tennessee among the top states in 2007, with 460 adults out of every 100,000 creating a business.
The promotion and support of entrepreneurial activity is a key focus of the Business Enterprise Resource Office of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
Michelle Proctor, BERO director, says the office has three main focuses: helping businesses find and obtain financing, helping them with procurement issues or doing business with the government, and helping them at startup.
“We help them understand licensing and certification requirements, regulations, things they need to know to set up their business,” she says.
BERO also works with Southeast Community Capital, an SBA-certified microlender, to manage the $10 million Rural Opportunity Fund created by Gov. Phil Bredesen to help rural small businesses, as well as connect clients to other nontraditional sources of funding.
The statewide initiative won Business Retention and Expansion International’s (BREI) 2009 Multi-Community Program Award for populations over 100,000.
‘Speed’ Dating for Companies
BERO’s highly popular Tennessee Business Matchmaking series of business-to-business conferences has been likened to “speed dating” for companies. The office also offers free, online seminars to answer questions or issues that face small, minority- or women-owned businesses.
In 2008, BERO helped more than 1,800 entrepreneurs and business owners, including a business owner in all 95 Tennessee counties. About a third of BERO clients are ethnic minorities, and about half are women.
In Kingsport, Phil and Diana Pipkin were able to turn a hobby into a business by opening Phil’s Dream Pit BBQ. The Pipkins received a $10,000 loan from the ECD-BERO Rural Micro-Loan Fund, and were connected to the Department of Agriculture’s Pick TN Products program to manufacture and market their barbecue sauce.
BERO assisted Stephanie Newton in applying for and obtaining a $10,000 loan for her business, Hair & Body Image in Kingston. The salon provides beauty services and products as well as tanning and nail services.
Newton is also working with a local Small Business Development Center on her business and marketing plan.
T&L Baking Co. in Cleveland is a 20-year-old manufacturer of angel food and pound cakes for regional distributors. The $10,000 loan the business received from the micro-loan fund helped owners Thomas and Lorie Pavlou continue to grow and be in better shape between getting bids and receiving payment.
And in Germantown, 11-year-old Stragistics Technology Inc. provides information technology, management, consulting and staffing services. Owner Hughetta Dudley needed BERO’s assistance to obtain a $150,000 loan from the Memphis Area Association of Government for working capital. The African-American-owned and woman-owned business is not only an SBA-certified entity, but also a certified diversity supplier at the local and state level.
“This administration has increased the amount of resources available and added staff to our office,” Proctor says. “We take small business in this state seriously.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Brian McCord
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